How We Could Have Met 2
by Forever-Fangirl-PJO
Summary: A series of oneshots on different ways Percy and Annabeth could have met! Part 2 (continuation) of How We Could Have Met. All Mortal, AU.
1. Blurred Lines

**A/N: Hey guys! So here it is, Part 2! It's finally here, and damn was this a hard decision to make. Thank you so much to all my readers and reviewers who gave me feedback on the original story and encouraged me to do a Part 2. I really appreciate all of your support! :)**

 **This chapter and the next three are going to be from How We Could Have Met as they are the last chapters from that story. I'm publishing them here to show that it is a continuation.**

 **I will have new chapters posted on this story once that one ends, so these next few are repeats but after that all new chapters will be on this story!**

 **If you're new here then I should probably explain, I have a story called How We Could Have Met that I started three years ago. Basically, since so much has changed, including my writing style, I have decided to start a new story which is a continuation of the same concept.**

 **Anyway, here ya go:**

* * *

If there is one thing that can be said about Annabeth Chase, it's that she is very professional. Very professional and punctual and organized. She is brisk, slightly strict, and excels on her subject matter and is all around outstanding in her job. Despite what one may think, she is a favorite.

If there is one thing that can be said about Percy Jackson, it's that he isn't that professional. Very laid-back and casual and relaxed. He is charming, and dorky, and always has a smile on his face and is well-versed in his subject. Unsurprisingly, he is a favorite.

If there is one thing to be said about the two, it's that they are complete opposites.

So when Annabeth walked into the building on the first day of school, bag in hand, planner color-coded, and everything arranged neatly, the last thing she expected was the grinning (and handsome face) of Percy Jackson greeting her.

One, because she had never seen him before and two, it vaguely registered in her head that he was the new guy. Whatever she had been expecting for the new science teacher, it had certainly not been this.

He had been standing there with Piper, who had in turn turned to greet her, when she had seen those dancing sea green eyes.

"And this is Annabeth Chase, she teaches history here. Annabeth, this is Percy Jackson, he's the new science teacher," Piper introduced.

"It's nice to meet you," she said politely, holding out her hand. He shook it firmly, she noticed, and the little twinge her body felt was pointedly ignored.

"The pleasure is mine," he grinned back, and she wondered if maybe he was making fun of the interaction.

"Well," Piper interjected, "this concludes the informal tour and you've met just about everybody so you should be good to go. Good luck on the first day, don't worry the kids don't bite," she winked, "mostly."

Percy, laughed and brought up his hand in salute, "Duly noted." Piper gave him a smile and then turned to address Annabeth, "Check your phone! I'll see at later, I got to go." And with that she hurried off down the hall.

This left Percy and Annabeth standing there by the door of his classroom. Percy spoke first, "So, got any advice for me for the first day?" Annabeth noted that his perpetual grin, was sort of endearing. She shrugged in response, "Don't die." He laughed at that, again she noticed his laugh was contagious and she could feel herself smiling despite the sarcastic tone of her answer.

"Seems like I have my work cut out for me," he replied. "Hopefully, I'll live to tell the tale of the time I started work at this private school and met a cute blonde who foretold danger."

Annabeth was even more surprised at the statement and inadvertently felt a slight blush that was making its way on her cheek.

"Hopefully," she murmured back. Luckily the bell rang, signaling they should both be getting back to their respective classrooms, and she was able to walk away with a wave.

Upon entering her classroom, she sighed, letting go of a breath she didn't know she was holding. As she got her papers together and set her lesson plans out, she realized that her thoughts were still on Percy Jackson. Remembering to check her phone, she saw Piper's text: _New science teacher, totally your type ;)_ She rolled her eyes, Piper could get a little excited. She decided to ignore it and move on. But as the final bell rang and students filed in, she realized that maybe, despite her best intentions, Percy Jackson most definitely meant trouble.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Percy, on the other hand, most certainly did not regard Annabeth Chase as trouble. But he did have to force her out of his mind so he could concentrate on the fact that it was his first day at his new job.

By lunchtime though, he was enjoying himself. He really liked teaching, and the students all seemed pretty nice. He would have to look out for the Stolls however, the twins had that mischievous look in their eye that he knew too well, mostly because he had seen it in the mirror growing up.

But overall, the students seemed nice and more importantly they seemed to like him. Despite his casual demeanor, he really did care about the students and this job. He wanted to get along with everyone and make his place here. He walked into the teachers' lounge for lunch and saw a scattering of other teachers. Most he had met earlier that morning due to Piper. He waved to a couple that he recognized, and saw Piper waving him over. He walked over to the table where she was sitting, along with a certain stunning blonde haired teacher.

"Hey, you made it," she remarked as he sat down.

He grinned back, "Well I got some very helpful advice to not die, so I've been trying to do that."

Annabeth smiled at him, something which he decided he wanted to see more of. "Well looks like you might live to tell the tale in the end."

He smiled, glad that his comment earlier today hadn't messed everything up. She didn't appear to hate him at the very least anyway.

Another teacher joined them then, Leo. He was the woodworking teacher, something Percy thought was very cool and instantly became good friends with.

By the end of the day, Percy was pretty happy. He had made some friends, the classes had gone well, and there was a certain history teacher who he might just want to get to know better.

He was happy he had started his life here, he finally felt like he was comfortable.

-.-.-.-.-.-

As luck, or fate, or just the school schedule and job appointments would have it, after school activities were a thing.

A thing that both Annabeth (as the person in charge of debate cub) and Percy (new head coach of the swim team) were a part of.

A thing that allowed them to meet after hours, despite the exposure they got during the school day (which never seemed enough).

It had been around a two months that Percy had started working this job, and Annabeth unfortunately felt herself develop a crush on him. Despite her professionalism and best intentions, she couldn't help but want to get to know him better.

And all that professionalism definitely went out the window the first time she saw him half wet, with a white shirt that clung on to him in a way that left little to the imagination. Percy Jackson had just gotten out of the pool.

Not it was pretty late, most of the students had gone home, and Annabeth herself was heading out after the debate club meeting when she had run into him.

Damn, did he have to look that good? It was bad enough she was falling for his adorable goofy personality, but did he have to look that hot too.

She felt her face heat up, but Percy didn't seem to notice.

"Hi Annabeth!" he exclaimed, then realized that he was half wet, and sheepishly brought his hand to run the back of his neck.

Oh god, did he know what he was doing to her. She bit her lip to hold back a groan, as his muscles flexed again, as he ran a hand through his hair. He was apologizing for something, probably for being half wet, but she didn't quite hear it all the way. He was just way to distracting at this point.

Pointedly trying not to stare, she said some offhand thing about how it was okay. And when she met his eyes and saw a smirk on his face she knew she had been caught.

Blushing even brighter now, she murmured something quickly and walked away fast, only turning around once to see him watching her leave, hand still on the back of his neck, muscles still flexing and oh god was she a mess. The thoughts he gave her were far from professional, and she knew that Percy Jackson would be the end of her.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Annabeth got her revenge the day she walked in wearing a pencil skirt. Ever since that day after school Percy had been even more flirty, knowing that she had been staring at him.

And maybe he was also being a bit more teasing than he normally would be and as soon as he saw her walk in that day, he knew he would regret that decision.

Annabeth Chase in a pencil skirt was a sight to behold, and the blouse she had paired with it... he didn't know office clothes could look that hot. And those heels, those heels were not necessary. For once he hoped she would not walk over and say hi (and yet the other part of him just wanted her alone in an empty classroom because the things she was doing to him right now).

Of course she walked over and said hi. Being close to Annabeth always had an effect on him, but being close to her when she was wearing that. It was so much worse.

She was saying something, a greeting, about classes, about pizza, who even knows. Not Percy, that's for sure. He smartly, blurted out "What?"

Looking at her face he saw a smirk and knew immediately that the tables had turned and he had been caught staring.

"I said," she started slowly, amusement dripping in her tone, "It's exam day, are you ready?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely ready. Completely," he rambled on and her smirk grew.

"Well good luck," she smiled cheerfully and she turned to leave.

"Oh and Percy," she turned last minute to whisper to him, "You're practically drooling." And with that she laughed and walked away. Percy would like to say he didn't watch her leave.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Piper had been relentless in pushing her about Percy. Now that she had gotten her revenge, the mood had heightened. They were actively communicating and flirting at this point. The strict lines from before were certainly getting hazy. Something Piper had not missed.

What surprised her even more though, when she finally got away from Piper, were her students.

A student had once compared her to McGonagall and it had been the highest compliment Annabeth had ever received in her entire life. That was what she strived for.

So you can imagine the surprise, when her students diverted onto a topic she never thought would come up. Percy Jackson.

Her students had come in louder than usual, smelling faintly of marshmallows? It had taken her five minutes to get them to calm down, and she couldn't help but be curious and ask what all the fuss was about.

"It's Mr. Jackson, we made s'mores in class today," Katie explained.

Annabeth felt the inadvertent smile that came to her face as the name was mentioned.

"Is it true that you guys are dating Ms. Chase?" someone from the back yelled, Travis or Connor she thought.

That thought brought an actual blush out on her face, and she immediately responded with a "No!"

"See told you! You owe me five bucks!" Travis or Connor replied. Annabeth was shocked. What was going on?

"Whatever, they're gonna be a thing soon, bet ten it'll be Mr. Jackson who asks," Another voice responded. Annabeth was no longer keeping track of who said what as the class started murmuring amongst themselves.

Since when had their relationship, or lack thereof, become a subject that even the students knew about and were...betting on?

She cleared her head and called for their attention. Saying it was not the case and that it was unprofessional, so there was no good in talking about these kinds of things. She then began her lecture, feeling as though the students didn't quite believe her.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Mr. Jackson! Are we doing something cool for valentine's day?" Will asked. Percy regarded the thought, he certainly could come up with some Valentine's Day themed science activities for them to do.

"Maybe, I'll see what I can do," he replied back leaning against his desk.

"What about you? Are you doing anything special for Valentine's day?" another student, Travis, brought up. Percy didn't miss the suggestive tone to it.

"Oh yeah," he replied sarcastically, "I totally have a hot date."

"Is it Ms. Chase?" Connor asked. Percy did not see that one coming. He opened his mouth in shock.

"What?" was all he could manage out.

"Or are you going to ask her out then?" Katie asked hopefully.

"What? Where is all this coming from?" He was shocked to hear his students talking about his love life, and that too with another teacher.

"Oooh! I ship it!" Silena squealed.

"Bet you ten he asks her out," a student called out.

"I already called that!" another protested.

"Fine, he asks her on valentines," the student amended.

"I mean look at him, he looks like Ms. Chase did when we brought it up on her class," someone else mentioned. And with that the class started talking amongst themselves. But Percy could not get over the fact that not only did the entire school know about it, there was a betting pool.

While he was trying to digest all this, there was a knock on the door. The class silenced as Percy got himself together and walked to the door to open it.

None other than Annabeth Chase stood in the doorway, and Percy seemed just as surprised as his class when she walked in.

"Hello, sorry to interrupt," she smiled apologetically at him. Before he could respond someone yelled out.

"Hi Ms. Chase!" Kevin yelled out and was promptly followed by a chorus of hello's and hi's a clear indication of her favorite teacher status.

Also, Percy hinted, a note of supposed innocence in all the greetings, followed by look at him.

Annabeth smiled warmly at the class, "Hello, I hope you're all behaving for Mr. Jackson," she gave pointed looks to the grinning class.

She turned back to Percy and handed him a note, "Meeting information," she explained. He nodded taking the paper and smiling at her. Again she had an effect on him.

There was a moment or two of silence as the two looked at each other for a second too long then quickly moved away hastily mumbling goodbyes. Annabeth waving to the chorus of goodbyes she was now getting from the class. As the door closed behind her, Percy sighed, and tried not to groan at the fact that his students would never let him live this down.

He was right.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Candy grams were the obligatory high school Valentine's Day gifts, and were headed by Leo this year as Piper had been too busy. The students delivering the candy grams were stuck wearing bright pink neon shirts that Leo had thought amusing. And every time someone got a glimpse of them, teachers would stop teaching knowing they had lost the class's attention for the next three minutes.

It took Annabeth ten.

Annabeth didn't usually celebrate Valentine's Day all that much, but she was wearing a light pink blouse when she walked into school that day. Percy had opted for a slightly more polished looked, actually wearing a red tie.

When Annabeth saw the tie, she couldn't help but think of ways she would use it to pull him closer to her. A thought she quickly dispelled and blamed on the Valentine's Day atmosphere, and the couples littered throughout the hallway.

But it wasn't until she was in the middle of lecture that the bright pink neon shirt came into view and started distributing the chocolate roses did the idea of Valentine's came back into her head. Annabeth hung back, knowing the excitement of the students and, despite the disturbance, she did find it sweet.

What she wasn't prepared for however, was the chocolate rose that made its way to her. The class was silent as the poor neon pink student handed her a rose then walked out of the classroom.

Immediately the class burst,

"Who's it from?"

"Does it say?"

"I bet it's from Mr. Jackson!"

Annabeth turned over the heart shaped paper that was attached with it and read the writing.

 _"Be my valentine?"_ there was no indication of who sent it.

It took ten minutes for her to bring some sort of order after explaining that there was no name attached to it.

Regardless, the rest of lecture was not that smooth.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"You think this is a good idea?" Percy asked Leo for the twentieth time. Leo rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Percy, it'll be great. She'll say yes."

"You have it all set up right?" Percy was still nervous.

"Yes, now go, my minions will probably have just delivered it!"

It was Percy's turn to roll his eyes. "Leo, they aren't your _minions-_ " Leo's response was a push towards Annabeth's door.

Lunch had just started, most students were already in the cafeteria, which left Percy in an empty hallway with a bouquet of roses.

He stumbled towards Annabeth's room, and hesitated on the door. He almost backed away but she opened it and jumped a bit in surprise.

"Percy?" she asked as he walked into the empty classroom.

"Hey," he said softly holding the flowers behind his back.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, surprised and also trying to figure out what was behind his back.

"I'm waiting on an answer," he replied.

"What?" she was confused.

He brought out the flowers from behind his back, "Does this help you make up your mind?"

It suddenly clicked in her head that it was him who had sent the chocolate rose. Once she had made the connection, the realization sunk in and a warm feeling spread throughout her body.

She broke out into a smile, accepting the flowers.

"Well," she said, "since you asked so nicely, I guess."

He stepped closer to her, "I think you can do better than I guess."

She put down the bouquet and looked up at him, running a finger down his tie.

"You think? Maybe you'll have to convince me."

And he did.

-.-.-.-.-.-

The bouquet of roses did not go unnoticed by the students.

Neither did the way the generally strict teacher would occasionally let things slide and that the laid back one now actually owned a _planner_.

It definitely didn't go unnoticed when the snap of the two teachers talking, leaning in very close, and the one of them at a coffee shop went around.

Money was made, money was lost. But the general consensus was just _finally_.

If there is one thing that can be said about Percy Jackson, it's that he isn't that professional. Very laid-back and casual and relaxed. But now he might be more likely to be slightly stricter on his students. He is charming, and dorky, and always has a smile on his face and is well-versed in his subject. Unsurprisingly, he is a favorite.

If there is one thing that can be said about Annabeth Jackson, it's that she is very professional. Very professional and punctual and organized. But now, she might be willing to be a little more lenient. She is brisk, slightly strict, and excels on her subject matter and is all around outstanding in her job. Despite what one may think, she is a favorite.

If there is one thing to be said about the two, it's that the lines have definitely blurred.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you guys think? Did you guys like it?**

 **As a recap, this is a chapter that I have published on How We Could Have Met that I am reproducing here to one: mark a continuation, and two: to set how this story is going to be like.**

 **Please check out How We Could Have Met if you have no idea what I'm talking about it is an older story with the same premise (as evidenced by the name ;p)**

 **Thanks for reading!** **Please Review!**

 **See ya! :)**


	2. The World's A Stage

**A/N: Hey guys! Here is another repeat chapter from How We could Have Met (just two more repeats then all new chapters will be on here!)**

 **I do want to mention and give credit to strawberrygirl2000 for the prompt for this one! Thank you for that and I hope you enjoy it! (I'm also not yet fully acquainted with Hamilton so special thank you for my amazing beta who has been editing the last few chapters for all the help on this one!)**

 **Thanks again to all my readers who encouraged me to do a part 2, I appreciate the feedback and support!**

 **Anyway, here ya go:**

* * *

She had originally entered the raffle because it was supporting her local library and she definitely hadn't expected to win. She stood there, staring at the "Hamilton" ticket in her hand, with what could only be described as a surprised expression as the librarian congratulated her. She was just here for the Harry Potter books. (And yes, she was a grown woman, but you don't ever outgrow Harry Potter. Honestly, she should just buy the books at this point).

She managed to return the librarian's smile and escape from the smattering of people that had gathered around her. She made her way to the familiar rows of shelves and took another moment to look at the ticket. Of course she had heard of the musical, who hadn't, but she had yet to listen to it or learn about it. In her defense, she had been busy with work.

Better now than never, she thought, as she put the ticket in her bag. These tickets were crazy expensive and somehow the library had managed to get ahold of two of them, probably through a PR agent.

Well, she thought, this should be fun.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Apparently there was a lot one had to know about before seeing the musical. Like how the lead, who played Hamilton, was a "smol bean" and that "King George" was a hilariously relatable asshole but the actor was a "precious smol bean" (who was also, apparently, hot). As Piper continued to talk her ear off about the cast, the songs, and everything short of the entire plot, Annabeth struggling to keep up with all of it, she wondered if maybe she should just give the ticket to Piper instead.

Piper had already bought tickets for her and Jason, however, and "strongly encouraged" Annabeth to go in her usual expressive way by narrowing her eyes in an almost murderous glare and saying, "You're going, and you're going to love it."

Annabeth replied, "I don't doubt it."

-.-.-.-.-.-

It's not that Annabeth had been skeptical, she figured it would be amazing. What she didn't realize was exactly how amazing. By the time the last note faded out she was standing up with a huge smile on her face and tear-streaked cheeks, clapping profusely. Okay, that had been epic. She chose to remain in her seat for a bit longer to one, take a moment to take it all in, and two, to wait for the initial crowd to file out.

She finally made her way out much later than most everyone else as she had been chatting with a couple other stragglers and the conversation had turned out long. She shivered a bit as the chilly air hit her flushed cheeks on the way towards her car. The night was dark and her way was only illuminated by the row of streetlights. Thoughts occupied with the cold, the conversation she had just finished, and the play, she failed to notice a figure standing in front of her and bumped right into it.

"Oh, sorry!" she exclaimed as she backed away. The figure turned around and she saw the face of the person. She gasped as she recognized the actor who played King George.

"It's no big deal, are you okay?" he replied kindly.

She nodded, "Yeah, sorry, I was just lost in thought. That was an incredible show."

He smiled, "Thank you, I assume you're a fan?"

She blushed, "Um, I am now, I wasn't really aware of it all before," she explained.

Contrary to her thoughts he grinned at the words, "Ah, you have joined our little cult, welcome," he joked.

She laughed at his words, "It appears I have."

He laughed along and stepped further into the light. Now that she could see him better she couldn't help but notice how attractive he was. He had messy dark hair, unlike in the show where it was pressed underneath a white wig, and was wearing regular jeans and a t-shirt that somehow suited him well despite the simplicity.

"That's awesome!" he replied emphasizing the 'awesome' in the damn valley girl accent as he had in the show.

Annabeth laughed again, he was so dorky.

"Wow," she agreed, replicating his voice and the next line.

He seemed surprised at her reply but he threw his head back and laughed.

They stood there for a moment, laughing, grins on their faces, before a chilly breeze hit them, causing them to simultaneously shiver.

There was a moment of silence before Annabeth said, "I should get going," not wanting to go away at all.

"Oh, yeah, of course," he replied a bit awkwardly.

"It was great talking to you," she said as she waved and began her walk towards her car again.

"Yeah, you too," he waved back.

She hadn't walked more than a few steps before she heard him call out.

"Wait!"

She turned around immediately, and with a maybe-a-bit hopeful, "Yeah?"

"I never got your name?"

"Annabeth." But as she walked away it dawned on her that she didn't know his.

-.-.-.-.-.-

His name was Percy Jackson, as Annabeth found out after some research. She researched him a bit more, eventually finding his twitter and immediately following him.

She was at work when her phone buzzed with a new tweet from PersassyJackson:

"looking for my Juliet with her blonde princess curls and sweet smile."

She almost had a heart attack reading it and was glad no one was around to witness her reaction. After rereading it and calming down, she reprimanded herself for her initial reaction. It wasn't that big of a deal, and it's not like he was talking about her, plenty of people had curly blonde hair. She calmed herself down and got back to work, trying to push the tiny speck of hope in her heart away.

She had just arrived home when the next tweet came:

"When we met in the glow of a streetlight and your eyes shone as you laughed."

Woah, okay, _that_ was oddly specific. Annabeth's breath quickened and her heart beat faster as she once again entertained the idea that he might be talking about her. She scrolled through the replies to see what others were saying. It was mostly people saying I love you and speculating what he meant by it.

She decided to test her theory to calm her heart, this would at least let her find out if he was actually talking about her. Her fingers shook as she typed out her own reply:

"I've joined the cult, awesome, wow!"

She decided that it had enough references to their conversation for him to know it was her. She sent it quickly, before she could second guess herself, and started her anxious wait. Did he actually mean her? Maybe she was just crazy and too hopeful. She decided to push those thoughts aside, she had to eat dinner anyway.

She was almost done with dinner when her phone buzzed again and she almost choked on the Chinese noodles in her mouth. Percy Jackson had followed her on Twitter.

A minute later she got a DM: "Annabeth?"

-.-.-.-.-.-

Their story seems like something out of a play; chance meeting under the guise of night with only streetlights to show the path, Romeo trying to find his Juliet, two people so opposite from each other, one shy and one outgoing, getting to know each other through DMs and texts which turns to dates and late night skype calls. Not being able to see each other often but making the best of their time. A mashup of old and new, classic and modern, their story seems like something out of a play, but as they say, all the world's a stage.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? Did you like it? Any Hamilton Fans?**

 **Once again thank you so much to my beta for editing and strawberrygirl2000 for the idea.**

 **And once again, this is another repeat chapter from the first story. There will only be two more of these then all new ones.**

 **Thanks for reading! Please Review!**

 **See ya! :)**


	3. Chocolate Kisses

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with a new chapter!**

 **As a quick recap: this is the second to last repeat chapter from the original story!**

 **Another quick note: If you sent me a prompt (on this story or the original) I will be posting it on this story in a few chapters!**

 **Also if you haven't already, please check out the original story, How We Could Have Met, for more one shots!**

 **And thanks again to all my readers and reviewers!**

 **Anyway, here ya go:**

* * *

She almost missed it the first time. It was half-hidden, so small that she would have looked past it if not for the shiny silver foil wrapping. A single Hershey's kiss, placed on her desk. How long had it been there? Was it for her? Annabeth scanned the study lounge, trying to see if any answers would present themselves. Maybe someone was handing out chocolate, that did happen occasionally, but everything seemed normal. No candy passers, just a bunch of college kids with all their study materials laid out and only half-focused on academics.

It was close enough to her for her to assume that it was, in fact, there for her, but she still hesitated. When did it appear there? She had only turned away for a minute to turn to a classmate to ask a quick question. It must have happened then. As she pondered this small mystery her gaze found its way to the cute black haired, green eyed boy that had been coming in for the past couple days. They had spoken a couple of times before, he knew some of her classmates and they had a conversation in a group setting a few times. She tried to remember his name, Percy? She was pretty sure that was it, Jason had been the blonde one if she remembered correctly.

He met her gaze and she quickly looked away, blushing slightly. She hadn't meant to stare. Not that you could blame her, he was very cute, sort of shy, she had noted during their first interaction, but overall a nice sweet guy.

She went back to ponder the Hershey kiss mystery and ended up eating it anyway because chocolate sounded really good right then. And with her hunger newly realized, she packed up and went to the caf, thoughts no longer stuck on the small piece of chocolate.

-.-.-.-.-.-

It happened again a couple days later when she was back at the study lounge, studying for an upcoming midterm. She had once again moved away from her desk to speak with some classmates, and found a Hershey's kiss on her desk when she returned. This time, however, there was a small note, a piece of ripped notebook paper with the words: " _hope you find a reason to smile today, you're really beautiful_ " scrawled on it.

Just reading the words brought a small smile to her face and she blushed slightly as she looked up, trying to spot who might have done it. Yet again, there was no indication of any potential note-leavers.

A thought crossed her mind: maybe the note wasn't meant for her- but it _had_ been placed right next to her stuff, and no one else was near enough.

As she nibbled on the small piece of chocolate, some of her classmates came up to her desk, immediately settling down.

"Are you ready for this?" One of them asked pulling out copies of the practice midterms.

"Is _anyone_ ever ready for this class?" she replied, now turning her focus on the upcoming test.

-.-.-.-.-.-

She spotted Percy approaching her and her little study group, this class was one of those classes where a study group was necessary (if they were going to suffer they would suffer together).

"Yo Perce," Leo called out as he got closer. Good, she had gotten his name right. Percy waved back,

"Hey," he replied.

"Dude, please tell me you got it," Leo pleaded.

Percy just shrugged, "Sorry man..."

Leo groaned and laid his head down on the table.

"Ugh, I'm so screwed," he continued to groan. Percy then turned to Annabeth, who had been watching all this with confusion, holding up a set of keys and winking.

Upon hearing the jingle of keys, Leo's head snapped up and he immediately reached for them.

"Goddammit Percy! You can't _do_ that!" He said in a mixture of relief and faux anger.

"What's going on?" Annabeth decided to interject.

"I asked this idiot," Leo pointed a finger at Percy, "to get the keys to my room 'cause I left them inside."

"And I got them," Percy replied shrugging.

"After giving me a heart attack first, you know I can't ask for keys at the desk, Reyna's working there and she's scary, plus she's gonna to think I'm irresponsible!"

"You are," both Percy and Annabeth said at the same time, then turned to each other and high fived.

"You betray me," Leo cried dramatically, causing the other two to roll their eyes.

"I approve of the scare, by the way," Annabeth added, mostly just to annoy Leo further.

"Thank you," Percy replied, bowing slightly. "It's my specialty."

Leo glared at them, "Some 'friends' you are."

Percy and Annabeth laughed at his antics,

"Oh hush," Annabeth spoke, turning to face Leo entirely, "remember who helped you with that last lab report."

"Ugh fine," Leo conceded, finally dropping his angry facade.

"Well, I got to get going, I have class," Percy excused himself. Before walking away, he offered a smile to Annabeth which she returned feeling warm inside.

It wasn't until they were about to leave did Annabeth notice the Hershey's kiss with the accompanying note that read: _"your eyes sparkle so bright they outshine the sun :)"_ It was disgustingly cheesy but she couldn't help the smile it brought to her face.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Annabeth was no closer to solving the mystery of the Hershey kiss sender and she felt she was failing her inner Nancy Drew. The note about her eyes had been cheesy but sweet and she was still trying to figure out how it had appeared. She had been talking to Leo and Percy the entire time so she wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings. It could have been anyone.

Well, except those two. The thought made her a bit sad, she had somehow started to hope that maybe it was Percy. Not that she had any solid backing other than the fact that he had been there every time it had happened. But she would have seen him leave it last time, wouldn't she?

She sighed and turned back to her work, unable to focus.

"Annabeth?" A voice brought her out of her staring contest with the paper.

She looked up to see a shy smile and a messy head of hair.

"Percy! Hi!" She quickly offered a smile.

"Hey, do you mind if I sit with you?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck, "it's really crowded in here."

"Oh yeah, sure," she quickly assured, moving her stuff to make room for him.

"So how have you been?" he asked as he shrugged off his bag and pulled his laptop out.

"Oh, you know, doing homework, taking tests, slaving away, the usual... What about you?"

"I take joy in the tiny victories, like getting an extra half an hour of sleep."

"Luckyyy," she sighed, "if only I could do that."

"My class just got cancelled today, otherwise I wouldn't either," he explained, setting the rest of his study materials out.

"How come my classes don't get that privilege," she complained, pouting a bit.

He laughed at her facial expressions, "you're probably not sacrificing enough to the college gods," he nodded solemnly.

"I've already sold my soul to them, what more do they _want_?" She threw her hands up in the air dramatically.

"Maybe Crowley isn't holding up his end of the bargain, but at least you won't be dragged away by hellhounds in ten years."

She gaped at him, "You watch Supernatural? Oh, this is the beginning of something beautiful."

The two ended up talking more about angels and demons then they did studying, unable to help how easily the conversation flowed and the amount of things they had in common.

So when Percy left after a good hour or two of talking, Annabeth was left with an hour less of studying, a happy smile on her face, and another mysterious Hershey's kiss with a sweet note wishing her good luck on her midterms.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Annabeth wasn't stupid, and this mystery Hershey kiss thing was making her feel like she was. She was back at the study lounge, working on a project and trying to ignore the thoughts of the yet-to-appear Hershey's kiss when Percy came up.

"Hey," he greeted as he sat down. "I've got to go to class but Leo told me to bring this to you," he offered a textbook.

"Oh thank you! I needed this." She accepted the book and smiled at him. After that last super long conversation she had seen a little more of him, and now had his number. They hadn't actually texted yet, but as they saw more of each other she figured they would eventually become better friends.

"No prob, apparently that's all I am around here, a delivery person," he fake pouted.

Annabeth giggled and patted his arm, "You're more than just a delivery person," she consoled, "you're also the waiter."

He frowned at her words, recalling the one time he had brought over coffee for his friends in her study group.

"Well _I_ see how it is, I guess I should just leave then," he huffed, standing up.

"You know I'm just joking," she said lightly, knowing he wasn't taking it seriously and actually had a class to get to. She turned to put the textbook in her bag.

"Yeah, I know," he grinned at her. Then rubbing the nape of his neck, he said almost shyly,

"I'll see you around?"

"Yeah, of course," she said straightening up. He waved at her as he walked away. Only after was he out of the room did she notice the Hershey's kiss and note that read: _"you seem like a great person and i'd love to get to know you better, want to get coffee sometime?"_ a phone number listed underneath.

Annabeth was duly surprised at the note and she automatically got her phone out to punch in the number, not knowing how to reply to the offer.

But as she typed in the numbers slowly her contacts narrowed until there was one left with a perfect match, Percy.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Percy's phone buzzed in the middle of class. When he checked it, the message read: _Yes, you dork._ Along with a picture of a Hershey's kiss.

And maybe the date ended with more than just a chocolate kiss.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? (P.S. accurate representation of college, a version of this actually happened to a friend)**

 **Once again: second to last repeat chapter!**

 **Thank you to all my readers and reviewers for supporting me through the transition!**

 **(Sorry for the repeat messages I'm just trying to make people more aware of this change :P)**

 **Thanks for reading! Please Review!**

 **See ya! :)**


	4. Rooftop Stories

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter!**

 **This is the last repeat chapter form my original story How We Could Have Met! From now on all the chapters will only be on here! But please check out the original for more oneshots like this!**

 **Also, if you have sent prompts they will be written in a few chapters, just as an fyi!**

 **And thanks again to all my readers and reviewers!**

 **Anyway, here ya go:**

* * *

The last thing Annabeth expected on a Tuesday night was to see someone on her roof. Well, it wasn't her roof but she lived in the apartment building and as far as she knew she was the only one who knew how to get on the roof.

She stood by the door for a moment, watching the dark figure sit on one of the worn-down lawn chairs she had salvaged from the lady on the first floor who was about to throw them out. Annabeth was unsure of what to do. No one had been on her roof before.

The figure turned and she managed to make out his face in the dim light from the staircase. She hadn't seen him before.

"Oh, um, hello," he stuttered out, obviously just as surprised to see her as she had been.

"Hi," she responded, opening the door a bit to let more light through. She finally saw all of his features and were struck by how young he looked, probably around her age. The second thing, beyond his rather handsome face, was the notebook he was holding. How he was able to write by only the light of the moon, she had no idea.

"Sorry, am I invading your space?" he asked and she realized she had been staring.

"Well, it's public property," she replied as she fully stepped onto the roof.

She let the door fall shut and walked over to the chairs, the dim light no longer there to reveal his face. But it was light enough for her to make him out as she got closer and for once she didn't mind the light pollution of NYC, lighting up the sky along with the moon.

"Yeah, but it's your unofficial space, am I right?" he persisted. "I'm sorry." He shrugged apologetically.

"It's alright, mind if I join you?" she asked, now intrigued by the man who somehow both understood her affinity for the place and apologized for "trespassing", in a way.

"Of course, I should be asking you that," he replied waving her over to the other empty chair. She sat down, immediately relaxing into the chair and sighing. It had been a long day, it felt good to be up here again.

The man watched her. "Is it okay if I stay here?"

She turned to look at him, once again taken by how conscientious he was, and polite. It startled her again for a moment, before she realized she hadn't answered.

"Yeah, sure," she said hurriedly.

"Thanks," he offered her a smile and she couldn't help but smile back.

"I'm Percy by the way, it's nice to meet you," he held out his hand.

She shook it looking at him curiously, "Annabeth, nice to meet you too."

There was a slightly awkward moment of silence before Annabeth spoke up. "So what are you doing up here?"

"Thinking," Percy replied.

"Thinking?" she asked.

"Well, thinking and trying to get some inspiration," he amended.

"For what?"

He looked over at her, "You ask a lot of questions," he pointed out, but his tone was full of mirth.

"Sorry, I don't mean to prod, you don't have to answer that," she apologized.

"Nah, it's okay," he waved off, "I'm a writer, hoping to get some inspiration for a story."

A writer. She had never met a writer before, that also explained the notebook. "That's really cool," she said, genuinely amazed.

Percy shrugged, "Plus it's really peaceful up here." Annabeth nodded, she could relate to that. It's why she loved coming up here, because it provided a little haven of peace in the busy, never quiet city.

There was another silence as the two took in the serene moment.

"If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing here?" he asked.

She sighed and laid back in her chair, "Just relaxing." Percy nodded and wrote something in his book.

"How can you write with this little light?" she asked.

"They're just quick notes, I don't really need to see all that much anyway, they're gonna be messy written in light or without so..." he shrugged again.

There was another moment of silence. The silences were no longer awkward, just peaceful.

"So what do you write about? I've never met a writer before."

Percy looked up to see some sparse stars and even more planes littered the sky.

"Whatever I can, really. My mom's a writer and she always told me to write about everything and anything, it helped me develop some skills. Currently trying to come up with a story for a new book," he answered.

"How many books have you written?" she asked, making a mental note to find his work.

"Two so far, not too many," he replied.

"Still, that's impressive. I don't think I could do that," she insisted.

"What do you do then Annabeth?" he asked, turning towards her.

"Not much really, I'm an engineer, I work on developing consoles for video games."

"What? That's so cool!" Percy exclaimed. "Do you play games too then?"

"Kind of in the job description," she replied, grinning.

And the talk turned to video games which went on beyond the discussion of all time favorites to plots and stories, eventually returning to books.

About an hour later Annabeth realized she need to sleep because unfortunately she still had work in the morning, and bid a good night to Percy.

"Good luck with your story!" she called as she descended down the stairs, wanting nothing more than to remain on the roof and continue talking with her new friend.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Percy climbed the stairs to the roof a bit apprehensively. He wondered if Annabeth would be there today. The talk from two nights ago had been fun and he thought that he had made a new friend. But maybe he had said something wrong and she wasn't going to come back. What if he had ruined it for her?

His worries were immediately dispelled when he saw the tip of a blonde haired head sinking into a chair, a small desk lamp nearby casting yellowish light over the scene.

He walked over, clearing his throat to make his presence known.

Annabeth turned to look at him as he approached and he was caught back by how beautiful she was. The desk lamp provided enough light to shine on her face and her grey eyes glinted, sharp and analytic. Her lips stretched into a welcoming smile and he registered she was calling out a greeting.

"Oh, uh, hi," he stuttered out, realizing he had been staring at her. He tried to hold down the blush that was making its way onto his face.

"Hey, Percy," she replied, laughing as he stumbled to take a seat, "You okay there?"

Percy made a face as he sat down, "I'm just surprised you're here," he defended. No stopping that blush now, he hoped he hadn't been caught staring.

"Why wouldn't I be? It's my spot after all."

"You weren't here yesterday," he pointed out.

"Yeah, I wanted to be, but I had to work late," she shrugged.

He nodded, knowing what that was like from his struggling writer phase. "What's with the lamp?" he asked, nodding to the little makeshift desk from a box which held the lamp.

"I wanted to see your face. You know, make sure you're not a serial killer," she said solemnly.

He raised an eyebrow. "And what's your deduction?"

"Not a serial killer, not with those playful green eyes," she teased. He felt his face heat up with another blush. Goddamnit.

"Plus, I wanted to read this book," she added, holding up the familiar copy of his first book.

"Oh god, you found my work," he groaned.

She raised an eyebrow. "Well, considering it was on a best-selling list, it wasn't that hard."

He blushed at the compliment, he honestly hadn't expected it to do that well.

"I've never seen anyone reading my books before."

"First time for everything. I'm not that far in yet, I just got it," she said, turning back to the book.

They settled into a peaceful silence which was only broken by Annabeth's reactions and Percy constantly asking her what part she was at.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Percy had lost count of the number of days the two had spent up on the roof, but it felt like forever. He also realized that maybe he felt something more than friendship for his not-so-new friend. That realization was headed by another thought— the two had yet to spend time beyond the roof.

And it wasn't till one night, when rain had started to fall lightly and Percy invited her for some hot chocolate inside, did the that happen. It was as if they had progressed to the next stage of whatever this was.

It may have taken some time, but once the barrier was crossed the rest just flooded through. The two started to see more and more of each other, leading to some hesitant questions and confirmed answers, sweet dates and maybe even a few kisses.

It led to all of that until. It turned into something more.

A few years later found them on that exact same roof. The lawn chairs were gone so they spread a blanket and looked up at the sparse stars and planes and talked like they used to.

"And that's the story of the heartbroken king," Percy concluded. Annabeth laughed and turned to face him.

"There's your next book right there: The Tale of the Heartbroken King," she announced.

Percy snorted. "Based off of a completely real constellation."

"It's believable enough," she replied. She turned back to the sky and pointed at another star. "What about that one?" she asked.

"Hmm," Percy speculated, lying down on the blanket they had spread and pulling Annabeth with him.

She squeaked at the unexpected motion and glared at him. Percy ignored her and looked back at the sky. "That's the tip of the constellation of the mighty Perseus," he proclaimed.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, of all the constellations he had been making up in the past twenty minutes this had to be the worst.

"Really? How can you tell, considering there are all of twenty stars in this sky, and five of them are probably planes?" she deadpanned. Admittedly, New York couldn't really offer that many stars with the light pollution.

"It's the great Perseus, how can you not tell?" he exclaimed.

"Well then, what's the story of this so-called great Perseus," she teased.

Percy made a face before continuing. "The story goes that the great Perseus was born by the ocean on a beautiful summer night. He was blessed with a great mind and good looks and he was as brave and courageous as he was charming."

Annabeth snorted at his description, "Sounds a bit far fetched, especially the charming and good-looking part."

Percy frowned at her and she laughed, dropping a light consolation kiss on his cheek.

"Sorry, sorry, continue," she gestured. Percy propped himself on his elbow and looked at her, she mirrored his position.

"Well, it's said that the great Perseus was undefeated, that all quivered before him."

"There had to be someone who could," she replied, watching him sit up completely. He gestured for her to sit too.

"What?" she asked re-adjusting her position. He put an arm around her shoulders and pointed to a star next to "Perseus the Great."

"See that? That is the constellation of the only person who could ever defeat him."

"And who's that?" Annabeth asked raising her eyebrows.

Percy stood up and raised his arms in the air dramatically, "The mighty Perseus was undefeated, until…" he paused for effect and Annabeth looked at him expectantly, "Maybe you should stick to writing, acting is not your forte," she teased.

Percy rolled his eyes and continued, "Until he met a woman who brought him to his knees."

Annabeth watched in surprise as he kneeled in front of her and took her hands in his. "And her name was Annabeth Chase."

He stared at her, a soft, love-stricken look crossing his face. It resembled the look he had given her when he had first seen her on this roof all those years ago.

"She was the most beautiful woman in the world, even the stars that make her constellation don't do her justice. She was quick both with her mind and tongue and always kept Perseus on his feet. She was, in essence, the most amazing woman in the world," he continued, his words floating around her and wrapping her up like his stories did. Like he did.

He let go of her hands and reached into his pocket, "And Perseus fell in love, so in love that he could not imagine life without her, so he asked her one question, with four little words."

She gasped as he revealed a tiny black box. "Will you marry me?"

Annabeth looked at her boyfriend, shocked, tears threatening to make their way to her eyes. Of course he would do it like this, with a story. She nodded, not trusting her voice. The ring sparkled in the moonlight as he slipped it on. Not able to get out any of the words she wanted to say, she simply pulled him into a kiss, hoping he would understand.

"So what did you think of my story?" he asked when they broke apart, smiling as though he had just won the world.

"It was okay, still not sure on the charming and good-looking part though," she teased, her heart filling with happiness.

Percy shook his head, "You're unbelievable," he said fondly.

"I know."

The newly engaged couple lay back on the blanket and stared at the sky, hand in hand, holding on to each other as they watched the sky move above them. It couldn't have been more than five minutes before Percy broke the silence but it felt longer, like the world had stopped. The tiredness had begun to set in.

"You know what else the great Perseus was good at?" Percy asked grinning, breaking her out of her tired state.

"What?" she asked cautiously, aware of his shit-eating grin.

He leaned into her ear and whispered the rest.

She blushed at the words and pushed him away, "You're lucky I'm tired because if I was fully awake I would have already shoved you off this roof."

"You wouldn't do that to your fiancé," Percy stated.

"Yeah? Watch me," she said tackling him onto the blanket, all traces of tiredness seemingly gone.

And under the light of the moon and stars and planes and whatever else you could find in the slightly polluted sky of New York, on a very special roof of an old apartment building just outside the city, a new story for the young couple began.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you guys think? I've had terrible writers block but I managed to come up with this so hope you like it! Let me know your thoughts!**

 **And once again, this is the last repeat chapter from the original, all new stuff will be on here! Please check out the original How We Could Have Met for more oneshots!**

 **Sorry again for the repeat info, just trying to make it clear what's going on!**

 **Thanks for Reading! Please Review!**

 **See ya! :)**


	5. Puppy Love

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with a new chapter!**

 **How We Could Have Met has officially ended :( and the last chapter is completely unique to that story! So please check it out if you haven't because it's really a special chapter.**

 **Moving on to this story, shoutout to Toby4138 for giving me the prompt of dog park, hope you like the fic!**

 **Anyway, here ya go:**

* * *

Percy couldn't help but smile as he watched Mrs. O'Leary race around the park. The poor girl had been cooped up inside all week due to one of Percy's projects and now she finally had a chance to release all her pent-up energy.

He figured he'd let her just play around with the other dogs for a while, deciding to take a moment to look around and appreciate the scenery. _God,_ he had needed a break. This free time was like a breath of fresh air.

"Hey!" he heard a voice call out, turning to see a girl walking towards him. He smiled and waved back, he remembered her and her golden retriever.

"Haven't seen you around lately," she remarked as she got closer and undid the leash. Her dog barked excitedly at him.

"Hey there," he chuckled, petting her once before she raced into the enclosure. Turning back to the blonde woman, he shrugged.

"Yeah, work got in the way."

She nodded sympathetically and brushed a lock of blonde hair from her face. "I get that."

"How have you been?" he asked. She leaned against the fence beside him and watched the dogs.

"Pretty good, busy with work too. Seems like Chica is glad to have Lea back to play with." She grinned, gesturing to where the two dogs were chasing each other.

Percy smiled back. "Yeah, she's missed this. Cooped up inside for too long."

The two continued to chat idly until it was time for the girl to leave.

"Oh, stop it Chica, we'll be back later— besides, don't you wanna see daddy?" the girl consoled as she managed to get the leash on her dog again.

"Well, I'll see you around Percy!" she called as they walked away.

"Yep, see ya Amy! Bye Chica!" Percy called back.

He turned to Lea who was hovering around him excitedly. "Well, girl, we should get going too."

But as he reached to grab the leash, Lea got distracted and ran off the dog park and onto the walkway, right up to a girl jogging down the path.

"Lea!" Percy shouted as he ran after her. "Mrs. O'Leary, come here right now!"

At the sound of her name Lea turned back towards him. As soon as he reached her, he clipped on the leash.

He turned to the jogger, ready to apologize, but was taken back. The girl was standing still, not looking scared but tense enough to remain in place.

"I'm sorry about that," he rushed to say, pulling Lea back. The girl seemed to relax a bit as she took a small step back.

"That's okay," she replied, smiling slightly. It was only then that Percy realized just how pretty she was. Strands of blonde hair fell out of her ponytail, framing her face and her bright grey eyes gleamed in the afternoon sun.

"I— uh, are you okay?" he managed to ask. "Not that Lea would hurt anyone, but she's a big dog so she can seem a little scarier than she actually is," he rambled on.

The woman smiled back at him. "I'm okay, just a little surprised. She does seem nice." She waved at the dog. "Hi Lea."

Percy couldn't help but find that adorable. It was obvious that she didn't have a dog or was used to being around them, but it was cute how she was trying.

"Do you want to pet her?" he asked.

"Sure," she replied and reached out her hand tentatively. Percy kneeled down so he could monitor Lea. The girl lightly touched Lea's head and after getting a positive response she did it again more confidently.

"She likes you," Percy replied, standing up as Lea wagged her tail excitedly.

The girl let out a small laugh as Lea turned up her nose to sniff her hand.

"She's pretty cool," the girl decided as she turned back to face him.

"Yeah, sorry she ran up to you like that, she's just hyper because she hasn't been able to run around in a while," Percy explained, running a hand through his hair.

"That's alright," the girl waved off. "It was nice meeting you, Lea!" She smiled, petting her one last time.

"Nice meeting you too," she said turning to face him, "But I've got to run…"

"Oh yeah, of course, nice meeting you, have a nice night!" he rambled and waved, watching her jog off with a wave back.

It was only after she was out of sight that he realized he hadn't gotten her name.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Percy was back at the dog park a few days later, playing fetch with Lea. Chica and Amy weren't there so he took the opportunity to play around. But, as he was wrapping things up and getting her ready to go, she started barking loudly.

"Lea? What is it girl?" he asked as he looked around to find the cause. And once again in a flash she had run away.

"Lea!" Percy yelled, turning to see a familiar sight. The girl from before had walked up to the edge of the dog park enclosure and Lea had managed to run to her again. So that was the reason for the barking.

"We seem to keep meeting like this," the girl laughed, her grey eyes sparkling again. Percy felt his heart lurch a tiny bit.

"I guess Lea can't seem to let you go," he responded, laughing with her and omitting the part where he might have not been able to get her face out of his mind either.

"Well, if your dog keeps forcing us to meet then it has to be destiny," she joked, reaching down to pet Lea.

"I guess so, but if that's the case I'm gonna need to know the name of the person whom destiny has chosen," he played along, trying to ignore the butterflies that were starting to form. It was unreal how he had run into her again after spending so much time trying not to think about her and how much he wanted to see her.

"Annabeth," she introduced, holding out her hand.

"Percy," he replied, shaking it.

"Woof," Lea added in, causing the two to laugh.

"Well, that's introductions out of the way I suppose," Percy announced.

"Then what's next?" Annabeth asked.

Percy rubbed the back of his neck, and smiled softly, "Coffee?"

-.-.-.-.-.-

As soon as Lea started to bark repeatedly, Percy knew without turning around that Annabeth was on the way.

"What's up with Lea?" Amy asked him as she jogged over, Chica following behind her.

"Nothing, she's just excited," he replied as he tried to calm the german shepherd down.

"I think she likes you more than me," he grumbled as he turned around to see the smiling face of his crush.

"Oh, stop being jealous," she chuckled as she bent down to pet Lea who was hovering excitedly.

"She definitely likes her better," Amy piped up, watching the scene with amused chuckle.

"Not helping," Percy made a face and Amy rolled her eyes.

"So you're the girl that Percy is helplessly in love with." Amy turned to Annabeth.

"Helplessly in love with?" Annabeth asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Amy! Shut up!" Percy hissed, turning red as the girls laughed.

"Welp, I got to go." Amy winked, gathering her things and calling to Chica.

"Your dad's here," she said to the dog before Chica sped out towards a dark haired man with his arms outstretched.

"It was nice meeting you," Amy said to Annabeth before walking away with a smile and a wave.

"She's nice," Annabeth commented after Amy left, throwing a chew toy for Lea to fetch.

"Yeah," Percy replied, rifling through his bag for some dog treats.

"So, helplessly in love then?" Annabeth teased.

Percy blushed and mumbled under his breath.

"What was that? I didn't quite catch it," she asked innocently.

"Maybe a little," he murmured.

Annabeth turned to face him, tilting his face so that their eyes met.

"Percy," her voice was soft. He looked into her fond grey eyes.

"Yeah?" he breathed.

"Woof!" their moment was interrupted by an impatient Lea with a chew toy between her teeth.

Percy bent down to take the toy from her and ruffled her fur. Annabeth bent beside him and Lea barked again.

"I agree, Lea," she spoke to the dog. Lea barked twice in a row and Annabeth petted her consolingly.

"I know, he's sort of an idiot that way." Lea barked again and Annabeth nodded solemnly.

"You're right, if you need something done you gotta do it yourself."

Percy had been watching the exchange, baffled, and he was even more surprised when Annabeth turned to him with a determined look on her face.

"Oh Percy," was all she said before leaning in and kissing him. To say he was surprised was an understatement but he soon melted into the kiss, feeling the warmth spread through his body.

"Woof woof!" Lea's bark caused them to break apart, cheeks flushed and out of breath. They stared at each other for a moment smiling widely before Percy turned to address Lea.

"Sorry girl," Percy said to his dog before scratching her behind the ears. "Here ya go, you deserve it," he held out a handful of treats that Lea immediately gobbled up.

Percy chuckled at her excitement and felt Annabeth lean against him. His heart fluttered again, the realization finally sinking in that Annabeth was here, with him.

Lea having thoroughly finished her treats decided she wanted in on the hug and jumped up on him causing him to almost fall over.

"He-umpf," his greeting was cut short by Lea licking his cheek. Annabeth laughed at his second stumble, catching him before he almost fell over again.

"You okay there?" she teased.

Percy smiled widely, "Yep, I just got kisses from my favorite girls."

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? Did anyone catch the other thing in there? Sorry, I couldn't help myself :p**

 **Once again: How We Could Have Met has officially ended and the last chapter is totally unique and really special so please check that out!**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!**

 **See ya! :)**


	6. Drunk in Kisses

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with a little something different but hopefully you guys like it!**

 **Shout out to uberperk for the prompt! Hope you like the way I wrote it! And to anyone else who gave me prompts, I'm working on it, it's just taking some time :P**

 **And once again if you haven't checked out the original story, How We Could Have Met, please do! The last chapter for that one is really special!**

 **Anyway, here ya go:**

* * *

Annabeth knew when she saw him walk up to the bar that she was fucked. In a metaphorical sense, that is, though after looking at him up and down again…. _Anyway_ , it was guys like him that were the wild cards. The groups of friends in their early twenties calling for shots, the middle-aged men in suits who tried to drink away their problems, even the guy who got way too drunk and way too flirty, she could handle.

It was guys like him that she could not get a read on. And Annabeth prided herself on reading people- it was one of the things she liked about her job. Being the bartender meant that you had a chance to hear people's stories, secrets, or whatever else they happened to say. She didn't mind it, it was interesting to learn about other people.

The guy had neared enough for her to make out the details of his face, and yep, she had been right. He was definitely a wild card, complete with dark messy hair, deep green eyes and a strong jawline to match (and was he really wearing a leather jacket?). It really didn't help that he was hot.

He caught her eye and smirked. Oh, she was going to have fun with this.

"What can I get you?" she asked breezily as he sat down on the barstool.

"Rum and coke, please," he answered right away.

She rose an eyebrow, that was a nice break from the shots she'd been pouring all night, he had even said please.

"Coming right up," she replied and busied herself with the drink. There weren't too many people at the counter, and the ones that were had been taken care of. This left the two of them. She could feel his gaze on her as she made the drink, she turned around catching his eye this time and smirked.

He seemed taken back for a second but gave an approving glance in return, accepting her retort. _Well played_ , his eyes seemed to say but there was still a bit of challenge in them.

"Here you go." She placed the drink in front of him, matching his challenging gaze. He gave a sly smile in return.

"Thanks." He took a sip and let out a small moan. "Damn, that's good."

"Good to hear, I aim to please," she replied adding a wink for good measure. Sure, flirting was part of the gig, and it generally got her more tips, but with this guy it was quickly becoming a contest.

"Well you're certainly succeeding," he commented, giving another sly grin, "In probably more ways than one."

"Oh, wouldn't you like to know," she shot back immediately.

"I'd like to know the name of cute blonde bartender; can you help with that?" he asked, looking at her innocently.

"Sure, his name's Jason." She gestured to the blonde man who had recently returned from a break and was busy mixing a cocktail.

The guy laughed at that answer, "Sorry, maybe I should have specified. I meant the hot one with an owl tattoo that I wouldn't mind seeing more of." He raised his eyebrows at the end.

Damn that was a smooth recovery, he was good. Maybe a bit too good, she kind of felt the need to kiss him.

She tugged at the collar of the white dress shirt where the owl tattoo was peeking out of. It was slightly unbuttoned, but still at a point where she could bend down without too much concern.

"Annabeth." She leaned forward a bit, "And what about the guy who doesn't have a chance at seeing the tattoo?"

The guy grinned, "I wouldn't know, you'll have to ask him."

The confident little fucker, she hated him. Hated the fact that she really wouldn't mind grabbing his shirt and pulling him in right about now.

She smiled back, she'd give this guy a chance "Aright, what's your name then?"

He took another sip of his drink, satisfied with himself, "Percy."

Percy. Different. It suited him. She nodded, content with the answer. She was about to say something back when Jason called her name and she had to make another drink.

She walked away from Percy still feeling his gaze on her back. He could be subtler about watching her.

"Take a picture, they last longer," she murmured as she passed by him on the way to deliver a drink.

"Can't beat the real thing," he whispered back, his eyes raking her form in a way that made her shudder. God, she just had to kiss this boy now.

After taking care of a couple more drinks she told Jason she was going to take a break and ignored his teasing look from her to where Percy sat, his drink nearly empty.

She slipped off the apron from her waist and stepped out from behind the counter. Percy immediately moved towards her.

Damn, had he always been this tall?

"Where are you going?" he asked, finishing the rest of his drink.

"Taking a break," she relied pulling her hair down from her ponytail and letting it fall onto her shoulders.

"Mind if I join you?" His tone was flirty but behind that she could see the sincerity in his question. He would not push if she said no.

Moment of truth, "Maybe, if you're lucky," she replied twirling a strand of her hair, a legitimate habit she had formed but came across as flirty.

He stepped a little closer to her, pausing for a minute to ask for her consent. She nodded and he continued forward.

"How would I know if I'm lucky?" he whispered breathily. He was so close and she could feel his breath on her face and smell a mixture of the drink she had made and the ocean radiating from him. He was even more intoxicating up close.

"You should kiss me to find out," she whispered back, giving him permission to do exactly that. In less than a second his lips were on hers and it was like she couldn't get enough of him.

She kissed back harder, letting him deepen it when he ran his tongue along her bottom lip. They broke away panting and buzzing from the high. He was looking at her now with such an intensity that she almost looked away and blushed.

"Guess that means I'm lucky then." His voice was deeper, huskier, it sent chills down her spine. She was suddenly grateful they were in a darker corner of the place, towards the back where there was practically no on around.

"It would seem that way, guess you might get to see that tattoo after all," she teased lightly, trying to get over just how fried her brain felt.

Percy's green eyes darkened at the comment and his reply was pulling her in for another shattering kiss. God, she could get used to this, she thought as he broke away from her lips and started trailing kisses down her neck.

"Fuck, Percy," she hissed as he sucked a hickey on the soft sensitive skin. He immediately looked up,

"Yes?" he asked innocently as if he didn't know what he was doing to her. She could have slapped him. She chose instead to grab him by his shirt and pull him roughly against her.

They stopped their makeout session after a bit, Annabeth reluctantly pulling away because she still had a shift to complete.

Her mind was still buzzing from the contact and looking at Percy with his now slightly rumpled shirt, even messier hair that she had been pulling on the entire time, and breathless face, she wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of her night with him and get to know more about him.

"Wow." Percy finally spoke, still a bit breathless. Wow was right.

"Yeah," she agreed, "That was…wow."

Percy laughed and ran a hand through his messy hair, "You're really good at that."

"I aim to please," she added a wink and they both laughed at the joke.

"Listen," she said seriously once they had calmed down, "I know this may be a bit out of order but I'd really like to get to know you better." She paused, gauging his reaction.

His eyes softened, "Yeah, I'd like that too."

She allowed herself to feel hopeful and smiled sincerely back at him.

"Cool, let me give you my number and we can plan something?" she asked carefully.

His grin made her heart jump, "Definitely, I'll call you."

And with that promise made, he gave her a quick sweet kiss and walked out the doors.

He never called.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Annabeth sometimes hated her mind for slipping away to thoughts of him. Like now when she had some free time, since the bar wasn't too crowded and she had a moment to think. She had a lot of the things to be thinking about, her mom's birthday present, her plans for the weekend, even the fact her rent was due in a week, but no, her thoughts had to go back to him.

She had gotten hopeful, excited even at the prospect of maybe building something more with him. She didn't know why, but he had felt different. The way he had looked at her made her feel like maybe he would actually hold up on that promise and not just be some guy she made out with.

He hadn't and part of her was pissed off about it. Why give her false hope? Why not just straight up say no, that he was not interested? She started to feel the anger rise in her and she pushed away the thoughts. Whatever, it was in the past. It had been three months, she should just get over it. He had been a wildcard anyway, and she should have known better.

She tried to push aside her peeved thoughts and finally looked up from where she had been vigorously wiping the already clean counter. She was not expecting said wildcard to walk in.

She practically froze as she got the overwhelming feeling of déjà vu as she watched him walk towards the counter. He was just like she remembered, dark hair, green eyes, strong jawline and that fucking leather jacket.

He caught her gaze and sent a soft, apologetic smile her way.

How. Dare. He.

She stormed out from behind the counter, her anger coming back to her in a crashing wave as she stomped up to him.

His eyes widened as he saw the anger and hurt behind her eyes.

"How dare you," she growled at him. He held up his hands in surrender and opened his mouth to speak, but she went on, "have the nerve to come back here." She punctuated her words with a jab to his chest, "like you didn't just fuck me over before."

"Listen, Annabeth, I'm so sor- "

She cut his apology off, "How dare you think that's okay."

"I'm really sorry, I-"

She pushed him back, "What excuse could you possibly have."

Percy sighed, looking as though he was in pain, "Annabeth I know what I did was wrong. I shouldn't have-"

"Damn right you shouldn't have!" she all but yelled. He was backed into a corner now.

"I know, I know. I was leaving the city that day, and I didn't…." he gulped, "I didn't expect to meet you, I didn't expect to fall for you."

What? What the hell? He can't just say something like that to her.

Percy desperately continued, "I wanted to see you again, I really did. But it hit me later that I was leaving and that I couldn't have that. But I wanted to so badly."

"Then why didn't you tell me?" her voice was quiet.

"Because I knew if I did I'd just fall for you further and it would lead to more hurt, I thought…." He sighed, "I thought at the time it might be better for me to not say anything. It would hurt, but probably not as much and this way we could move on."

"You're an idiot," she replied.

Percy shut his eyes closed and winced, "Yeah I know. But I just couldn't get you out of my head. I realized that not seeing you had been the worst choice and there was no way I could move on. So I…I uh, I came back. To apologize. Because you deserve that, hell you deserve better than what I did to you, so I don't blame you if you don't forgive me or never want to see me agai-"

He was cut off by a pair of lips on his. The problem with Annabeth is that as mad as she was she had still missed him. And there he was, back, apologizing, rambling even. She had to shut him up.

They broke away and Percy looked at her astonished.

"I-"

He was cut off again, "You're not off the hook. I'm still slightly pissed. But maybe…" she paused, "Maybe you're on the right track."

"That's more than I can ever ask. I'm so sorry Annabeth." He tentatively pulled her in for a hug.

"God, I missed you," he mumbled into her hair. "I promise to do whatever it takes to make it up to you."

She pulled away and considered her options. Moment of truth.

"A date wouldn't be a bad place to start." She gave him a second chance.

So, they arranged a time for the next day and Annabeth returned to her shift.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he promised and once more she watched him walk out the doors. Maybe it had been a bad idea. What if he had just walked out on her again? He was a wild card after all.

He called the next day.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you guys think? A bit different from what I normally write but I will be trying out a lot of stuff in the future as well, just to let you all know.**

 **Thank you all for reading! And please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!**

 **See ya! :)**


	7. Papa-Paparazzi

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back ages later with a new update!**

 **Just wanted to once again thank everyone for their support! You all are too kind honestly :) also I'm working on prompts people have sent me but in the meantime in found this idea on tumblr and felt the need to write on it.**

 **Without further ado, here ya go:**

* * *

Percy tried very hard to appear completely normal as he slunk down the near empty street. He had been low-key following The Jason Grace, hoping to get at least a few pictures, and had successfully managed to somehow lose him completely. He groaned, his manager was going to kill him.

When Percy had decided to go into journalism the last thing he wanted was to end up being the annoying paparazzi vying for pictures of famous celebrities. But work was work and he had to eat somehow.

He sighed again as he gave up, dejectedly stopping at the corner of an intersection half-heartedly looking for a glimpse of blonde hair that he knew he wasn't going to see. Honestly, he didn't blame the guy for disappearing like that, he would hate to be followed around by cameras all the time too.

But now his manager was going to yell at him, and he really needed the money to pay his rent for this month. On cue, his phone started buzzing, a call he pointedly ignored. If asked later he could say he was following a lead. Speaking of, said lead was gone and Percy just realized he had no clue where he was.

The street wasn't too crowded, framed with some houses and he could see a sliver of the ocean from behind some buildings. It was far from familiar and with Percy's phone battery dangerously low he really wanted to avoid using it to get directions. Hopefully someone could point him in the right direction.

He veered right and entered a small shop filled with vintage items and antiques. It was quiet with dim lighting and he struggled to find another sign of life.

"Hello?" he called out quietly as he navigated through the rows of stuff.

Since he was Percy and it was inevitably going to happen he bumped into something, or someone rather.

"I'm sor-" his rushed apology died at his lips when he saw who exactly he had bumped into.

Annabeth Chase, The Annabeth Chase, looked back at him.

She was even more beautiful up close, which seemed counterintuitive, but even without movie magic her hair shone brightly and her eyes sparkled like diamonds. Okay, so he might be a complete fanboy.

"…I'm sorry about that, I wasn't looking where I was going," he finished, as calmly as he could.

"It's okay," she waved off, studying him with a guarded expression.

There was a moment of silence as they both regarded each other.

"Paparazzi," she said finally, a tiredness washing over her features as she noted the camera around his neck and pen behind his ear.

He winced at the tone and half-shrugged. "I wasn't actually following you, I came in here 'cause I got lost and needed directions."

"You got lost?" She rose her eyebrows and gave him a look that said she didn't quite believe his story.

He sighed and nodded, "Yeah actually, my assignment is Jason Grace but I managed to lose him, and then I realized that I had no clue where I am. My phone's dying and my manager won't stop calling me. I just really needed directions. I really didn't expect to see you here."

He ran a hand through his hair tiredly suddenly very aware of how tired he was and how hungry. When was the last time he had eaten? He let his shoulders droop, he was just so done.

Annabeth seemed to soften as she took in his composure and story. She offered a half smile, "Damn, that sucks."

He lifted his head to meet her eyes, they were kind of spectacular. He bit his lip to avoid fanboying on spot. He decided instead to do his job.

"Listen, I'm really sorry about this, but can I please take your picture?"

Her eyes and posture immediately became guarded again but he just continued, "Believe it or not, this is the last thing I want to do. Like I get it, wanting privacy, I'd hate it if I had someone on my ass all the time. But my manager is a dick and loves threatening to fire me and I really need this job to pay my rent. So please can I take a picture of you."

He all but pleaded the last part. Annabeth just seemed shocked at the honesty of it all and didn't respond.

He sighed for the twentieth time, "It's okay if you don't want me to. I'll respect your privacy. You're actually like my favorite actress and I really wish I could have met you without being paparazzi cause then I could have had a chance at an autograph or something without the negative connotations and now I'm rambling but I'm hella tired and hungry and I've decided to go on this brutally honest route, anyway I'm gonna stop talking now."

He blushed as he forced his mouth to stop working. He was not making this situation any better. He should just, leave. He gave a small half smile and tried to will the pink from his cheeks as he started to turn around to walk away.

"Yes."

He stopped in his tracks and looked at her confused. "What?"

"Yes, you can take a picture of me," she clarified.

"Really?" he was genuinely shocked, the image made Annabeth laugh slightly.

"I mean you're the first paparazzi to actually ask for permission, plus it must suck to have a boss like that so sure. I can help a guy out." She smiled warmly and Percy just stared at her dumbly.

"Oh, um, okay… uh… thanks," he managed to get out as he tentatively rose the camera to his face.

After snapping a few pictures of Annabeth looking through some antiques, he thanked her again.

"Thank you, really, this means a lot," he said sincerely.

"It's fine, think of it like a favor for a fan," she replied, winking.

He smiled back. "A pretty big favor if it means I won't get evicted."

He quickly looked through the photos and nodded with satisfaction. "I promise I'll make sure the piece is nothing bad, we'll just say something about how vintage stuff and antiques are the new thing. Old is the New New, or something," he assured.

She laughed at the title and he couldn't help but laugh along, it was kind of ridiculous, but people always ate that shit up.

"Well, it'll help with antique sales at least," Annabeth giggled.

"Yeah, that's true. The economy is going to go berserk over this. I hope you're ready for what this entails Annabeth, I don't know if the stock market could handle it," he joked.

Annabeth grinned back, and Percy might have been taken back by just how amazing it was. "You're right, maybe you should have taken a picture of me eating ice cream. You can't go wrong with an influx of ice cream!"

His stomach rumbled just thinking about it. "Oh don't talk about food. I'm starving, all I've had today was coffee."

She shot him a surprised look. "What, why?"

He shrugged. "Well I was investigating some of the recent protests, trying to draft a piece to send to some potential job openings, but then I was reminded by my boss that the protests are not more important than Jason Grace's new haircut so I should get a move on."

He rolled his eyes at the thought. Had he mentioned how much he hated his job?

"Wow, your boss is a dick," Annabeth sympathized.

"Yeah well, he's good at his job, it's just not the job I want."

Annabeth nodded sympathetically and it just hit him that he was in some stuffy antique store in some random location having a conversation and even joking with the Annabeth Chase.

Was this even real?

"It's okay, one day I will assume my true form and become the president of ice cream and demand that blue ice cream be sold everywhere," he joked, attempting to lighten up the conversation.

Annabeth laughed at that. "Blue ice cream?"

He widened his eyes comically. "Don't tell me you've never had blue ice cream."

She shrugged and he shook his head. "Disappointing, Ms. Chase, it's the best kind there is."

Annabeth smiled. "Well, I'll take your word for it. You know what, when you become ice cream president, I'll endorse you."

"Really? You'd do that for me! Aww, shucks, thanks Annabeth. I'll let you know when my empire is on the rise," he teased back.

They both laughed at the idea for a moment before it finally died out. He had not imagined it would be this easy to talk to Annabeth Chase, or that he would have this much fun with it. She was a really cool person if she was willing to let him take her picture and joke about an ice cream empire. Not to mention now that they were so close he could make out the small details about her: her lemon scent, how she was just a little shorter than him, the little tattoo that peaked from her collarbone.

She really was beautiful. And so close. It was kind of intoxicating. He took a step back to try to regain his senses.

There was a moment of silence before Percy spoke up, begrudgingly, as he figured he should really leave her alone now considering he had taken up so much of her time.

"Um, thanks again for all the help Annabeth, it was… uh… nice to meet you." He got out the words a bit awkwardly.

She seemed surprised at the statement but replied nonetheless.

"Of course, the pleasure was all mine…."

"Percy," Percy supplied.

"Percy, nice name."

He blushed at the compliment, "Thanks."

"Anyway, it was nice to meet you too. Good luck with the pictures and piece." She seemed quieter now, more resigned.

And even though the last thing he wanted to do was to walk away, because if he was honest he could spend the entire day talking to her, he did, sending a small wave with a word of thanks and a smile.

It was only after he had exited the store and walked away did he realize he had not gotten directions.

-.-.-.-.-.-

The next day Annabeth's Instagram featured a picture of her with blue ice cream and Percy almost had a heart attack.

It was unfair how quickly his stupid celebrity crush was increasing. It was unfair that she had put up that picture. It was unfair how much he wanted to see her again.

The Annabeth pictures lasted him another week at the company, rent for the month, and an assignment for the red carpet at the next movie premiere.

He did see her again, which was kind of inevitable give that she was a celebrity and he was paparazzi, at said premiere show about a month later.

He pretended his heart didn't leap as her eyes met his in the crowd of cameras and other paparazzi. He pretended he didn't forget how to breathe at the small smile she gave him before moving on. He pretended he didn't die on spot as she posed for his pictures.

"Would you like an interview?" the angelic voice spoke softly behind him.

He whipped around so fast he might have given himself whiplash. But there she was, as everyone else watched the movie, her movie, she was outside in the secluded corner with him.

Miraculously there was no one around near enough to them for her to get recognized (which was also good for Percy because he was gaping like a fish out of water).

"Annabeth?" he was beyond shocked.

"Percy," she replied. Holy shit, she remembered his name.

He was less tired, less hungry and therefore more acutely aware of everything around him, including her.

"Um… hi… " He offered a small wave. "long time no see."

She smiled, "It's been a month." There was a pause. "Still no ice cream empire?"

He laughed, the tension effectively diffused. "Nope, but I saw you tried blue ice cream."

She rose an eyebrow. "Did you now?"

Oh crap, did that seem weird? Then again she was a celebrity, a lot of people followed celebrities on social media.

"Yeah," he managed, "did you like it?"

She smirked and got closer to him, "I did, very much. It reminded me of you and it made it all the better."

He audibly gulped at the look on her face. She was very quickly reducing him into a stuttering mess.

"That's…that's good. I'm glad," he rambled.

Annabeth just giggled at his reaction and continued the conversation breezily, "So did the pictures work out for you?"

He nodded. "Yeah, they tided me over, got me this assignment and paid my rent." He laughed at the thought. "So really, thank you. I owe ya one."

Her eyes gleamed as soon as the words left his mouth. "I have a way you can repay me."

He froze and looked imploringly back, trying to keep his heart from bursting. "Yeah, what can I do for you?"

"Take me on a date."

"Done."

A week later found _the_ Annabeth Chase in Percy's crappy apartment as he attempted to make dinner, much to Annabeth's amusement, and eventually settled on takeout and a movie.

It wasn't glorious, but it was hidden from the rest of the world, their own private moment away from all the cameras. It was perfect.

A few months later the headline "Annabeth Chase's Secret Man" got around with everyone desperately trying to hunt him down. When asked who her boyfriend was Annabeth just shrugged, it wasn't too difficult anyway. The editor could be found in his office at the New York Times.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? I'd like to add I have nothing against people in this line of work, it was just not really Percy's thing so he moved to something that fit him better. So really, no negativity on the profession, just didn't work with the characters.**

 **But anyway, thanks again to all of you amazing people for reading and reviewing! I really appreciate it!**

 **Check out the first version of this story if you'd like, it's called How We Could Have Met!**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!**

 **See ya! :)**


	8. Awkward Encounters

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back!**

 **So not much really to say except I will try to update this fic at least twice a month. I know that doesn't sound like much but that's about two weeks between updates and I think I it's a do-able goal. I would say something more frequent but I don't want to promise anything in case I can't keep it.**

 **Also I wrote this really cute oneshot that I added to Wait! What? So skip to the last chapter of that story to read the oneshot! It's really cute and a personal favorite so please read it if you can!**

 **Anyway, a lot of bants in this fic, and hopefully relatable content about avoiding people!**

 **Here ya go:**

* * *

Today was just not Percy's day. His boss had decided that the order mix-up was Percy's fault (even though Percy wasn't even in the same room when it had happened) and as a result had ended up yelling at him for a good ten minutes. He had spilled his morning coffee, missed his bus and very narrowly avoided falling down the stairs to the subway.

Needless to say, after such a shit day all Percy wanted was his couch, pizza and Dr. Pepper… and a packet of Sour Patch Kids (he just really wanted the candy okay, don't judge).

He tiredly ran a hand through his hair as he walked down the aisles of the convenience store, wondering if he should just go all out on the junk food and grab a bag of chips while he was at it.

Before he could decide a _ding_ from the door made him look up, and a flash of red hair caught his eye.

Oh no. He peeked around the corner to confirm that yep, that was definitely Rachel Dare.

 _Crap,_ he thought, as he backed away and ducked back into the aisles. He did not want to deal with this, not today. He could already feel the awkwardness starting to form and they hadn't even interacted yet.

He debated just making a break for it, but realized he didn't really have a clear shot. The only thing close to him was…well, it was a long shot, but…just maybe it would work. He was desperate.

He snuck up to the checkout counter, warily watching the tinge of red hair that was moving around in the other end of the store, and prepared to make his plea.

"Hi, I'm really sorry about this and I swear I'm not a bad guy, but that girl over there is my ex and please _please_ let me hide behind the counter," he rushed out the words desperately before finally moving his gaze to the store clerk.

And holy hell he had not been expecting this. Before him stood a gorgeous girl with blonde hair and grey eyes who were watching him warily wearing a face of slight confusion.

Rachel started to move towards the back, and the panic was back. He turned back to the store clerk.

"Please? Just until she leaves, I really can't handle this."

He must have looked truly desperate or pathetic (he couldn't really tell), but it seemed to be effective because the girl moved to the side and opened the small door to let him in. He immediately dashed in and ducked down under the counter.

"Thank you so much," he mumbled from his hiding position, trying to convey his gratitude. She looked down at him with an eyebrow raised.

"You have so much explaining to do."

He sighed, "Yeah, I'll give you the rundown. Basically, the girl with the red hair is like an ex…friend? We were never like officially a thing anyway. And then there was this drama that went down and now things would just be really really awkward and tense and I've had a pretty shitty day and I really can't deal with this right now."

He might have rambled but at this point he just couldn't care. He just wanted to avoid this situation entirely.

An amused look adorned her face as she unnecessarily straightened up the stationery around the cash register.

"How can I trust you?" she responded, a small smile on her face that seem to be evidence that she believed his story.

"Don't you have that one friend or group that you try and desperately avoid because of shit that went down in the past?" he asked by way of answering.

She took a moment to contemplate then nodded. "Okay, good point. I can relate."

Percy let out a sigh of relief.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard her speak.

"Hello, find everything alright?" she asked, a polite smile on her face.

"Yeah, thanks," he heard Rachel respond. He shrunk lower.

"The total will be $12.50," the clerk said as she finished scanning the items.

Rachel swiped her card, grabbed her bag and with a last smile and "have a good day" she was off.

Percy finally let himself relax as he heard the door _ding_ again and slowly stood up. The clerk turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"She didn't seem so bad."

Percy shrugged, "She's not actually, things just didn't end well between us. Thank you again for letting me hide. You really saved my ass there."

The clerk waved it off as he exited the counter. "It's alright, I've been there. But," she paused, "I should at least know your name, in case you do end up being a robber that I have to report to the police."

He rose an eyebrow, "If I was a robber, why would I tell you my name?"

She smirked back, "Well you don't seem to be mentioning it now so I'd say that's suspicious."

"Good point, let me clear my not-robber status. My name's Percy," he replied graciously.

"Well, Percy, you better not steal _shit_ ," she threatened but he could see the twinkle in her eyes.

"Shoot, there goes my plans for today," he joked back.

They laughed at the exchange before Percy calmed down enough to say, "And what about you? Do I get to know my savior's name?"

"I don't know, it's kinda confidential. All part of the secret hero bit." She winked and he couldn't help but laugh along.

"I knew it! I knew you weren't human, you can't be anything less than an angel," he flirted. Was he flirting? Well, too late to go back now, not that he'd want to.

The girl blushed slightly at the compliment and met his gaze.

"I guess I could mention it to you, but don't tell anyone else or you'll blow my cover," she whispered conspiringly.

"Pinky promise," he promised.

"Annabeth."

Even her name was beautiful.

"Nice to officially meet you Annabeth, thank you for your heroic services," he declared formally.

She giggled. "It's nice to meet you too Percy, glad I could be of assistance."

They smiled at each other for a moment before the silence stretched to awkwardness.

"So are you here to get anything or are you just a damsel in distress?" Annabeth finally spoke up.

He frowned playfully at her words, "Excuse me, I'll have you know I'm fabulous." He mimicked flipping his hair. She laughed at his antics.

"But really I came here for a packet of Sour Patch Kids," he answered seriously, grabbing a pack and setting it on the counter.

"Seems like a lot of trouble to go through for a single packet of candy," she mentioned as she scanned the item. "That'll be $1.50."

He handed her a five-dollar bill and responded, "Yeah, didn't expect all this to happen. I've just had a really shitty day and the only thing I want is pizza and candy and sleep."

She handed back the change and he wondered if there was a good way to ask for her number. "Aww, well hope your day goes better now."

He grinned and picked up the candy, "It's already better now that you've been in it." He added a wink for good measure.

She blushed lightly and rolled her eyes. "See ya Percy."

She would definitely see him again. As he walked away with a wave, he had to admit his shitty day had gotten infinitely better.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Unsurprisingly, Percy was back two days later. That was about as long as he had managed to go without seeing her again.

She seemed to perk up when she saw him walk up, a bit shyly, clutching a pack of Swedish Fish as an excuse.

"I'm sensing a pattern here," she said as he put down the Swedish Fish on the counter. "Should I expect the hiding thing now too?"

He laughed, "Nope, that is hopefully a onetime thing. The candy on the other hand, you can count on a whole lot more of that."

"Got a sweet tooth?" she joked as she scanned the packet.

He smirked. "For you? Definitely."

She blushed again and lightly punched him in the arm. "Shut up."

"No can do, sweetheart," he called as he walked out.

True to his words, he was back the next day.

"You're going to get diabetes at this rate," Annabeth said, half-amused as she scanned the packet of Skittles.

"Worth it to see you," he winked.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh that did nothing to dim the smile on her face.

"You know, I have a life beyond this store."

He fake gasped, "What, no way? I thought you lived here!?"

He laughed as she punched him in the arm again before sobering up.

"But for real, when does this life beyond the store start?" he asked softly.

"Around six, why?" she flirted back, leaning a bit closer to him.

He feigned nonchalance. "Oh well, I was wondering, since you seem so concerned about kicking my candy habit that you might want to come and fuel a different, more caffeinated addiction of mine?"

She seemed to consider this. "Normally I don't condone addictions but I guess I'm guilty of this one myself. So…I guess I could," she replied, dragging out the last bit as if she were reluctant to agree. The smile on her face said otherwise.

"Great, I'll see you around six then?"

No hiding the smile on either of their faces now. "Yep."

-.-.-.-.-.-

Percy was a bit early but he figured that it wouldn't be the worst to hang around the convenience store and chat for ten minutes.

"You're early," Annabeth commented as he entered.

"Couldn't stay away from you I guess," he tossed back grinning.

Annabeth's mouth opened in retort when her eyes suddenly went wide and she ducked beneath the counter.

"Wha-" he started to say but she quickly hushed him from behind the counter. He leaned over to see her crouching.

"What are you doing?" he whispered as he quickly scanned the store. Luckily the customer that had entered had not seen anything.

"What does it look like, I'm hiding!" she hissed back.

"But you work here!" he replied.

"Cover for me!" she whispered back.

He made his way behind the counter and stood there awkwardly.

"What is going on?" he asked, warily watching the new customer making his way through the aisles.

"Well you know when you have that one ex, friend, whatever, that you want to avoid…" she trailed off and an amused smile made its way to his face.

"So you're basically me from a few days ago," he stated.

She made a face at him, "It's all your fault, you're like a magnet for attracting unwanted people."

"What, no I'm not!"

"You so are," she replied with a smirk.

"Am no-" he was cut off by the customer walking up to the counter.

"Are you okay?" the asked said as he placed his items on the counter.

Percy snapped up to meet cold blue eyes and blonde hair.

"Uh? Oh, me, yeah, I'm good," he rushed out making a panicked face at Annabeth who was still hidden under the counter.

"Okay," the guy rose his eyebrow as if he didn't quite believe him.

"Listen I uh…don't work here?" it came out as a question.

"What?"

He glanced at Annabeth who was furiously pointing to her wrist. What? Oh, time. He glanced at the clock, it was almost six. Her shift was going to end. That meant someone else would take over. The person should be there by now. He just needed to stall.

"Yeah, I uh, I volunteered to hold fort while the clerk went to the bathroom," he lied.

The guy's face was filled with uncertainty, "Oh, okay…"

Percy nodded, "Yeah, so if you want to look around more, I'm sure they'll be back soon."

The guy nodded, probably agreeing just so he could avoid awkwardly standing there while they both waited.

"Annabeth! What do I do?" he whispered as soon as the guy moved away.

"Jason will be here any minute," she responded.

On cue, the bell dinged and another blonde-haired man rushed in, making a beeline for the counter.

"I'm so sorry I'm lat- who are you?" he asked taken back at Percy's presence behind the counter.

"I'm watching the place while your coworker is in the bathroom, but now that you're here you can take over," Percy rushed out, seeing as the customer had been watching the exchange. He exited the counter and all but pushed, who he assumed to be Jason in his place.

Jason for his part seemed extremely confused and his face morphed into shock when he inevitably found Annabeth hiding there.

Luckily, he recovered quickly and quickly checked the customer out. Once everything was in the clear Annabeth finally stood up.

"Oh thank god," she sighed as she stood up and brushed herself off.

"What is going on?" Jason asked.

"That was Luke, ex-friend person thing. Wanted to avoid a really awkward and tense encounter," Annabeth replied by way of explanation.

Jason seemed amused, "Weren't you telling me about the same thing happening with a customer a few days ago?"

Percy raised his hand. "That'd be me."

Jason turned to him surprised, "Wow. You're like a magnet."

Annabeth nodded. "That's what I said!"

Percy mock frowned. "I'm not! Stop bullying me."

Jason raised his hands in surrender. "I'm just saying, my ex better not walk in here."

Annabeth smirked and walked out from behind the counter. "Don't worry Jason, I'll make sure he gets far away from here as soon as I change."

"Hey! I was promised a date, not a potential murder," Percy teased as she walked into the staff room.

"Would a potential murderer give you their name?" she retorted.

"Well, a potential robber did," he called back.

"Knew it! Jason, keep an eye on this one."

Later when they were situated with coffee with a distinct lack of both thievery and murder, they had to toast to awkward encounters.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? Can you relate in any way to this? Have that one friend or group you try your very hardest to avoid cause things just didn't end well and now there is tension or awkwardness? I know I do. But let me know!**

 **Also this fic has all the banter, all the flirts :P**

 **And thanks again to all of you guys for reading! And please check out the last chapter of Wait! What? to see my latest oneshot that I think is really cute!**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!**

 **See ya! :)**


	9. Night Art

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back!**

 **Featuring Artist Annabeth and Shy Engineer Percy, aka the college AU with a late night shift. (I'm kinda obsessed with them)**

 **That's all I got to say, here ya go:**

* * *

Annabeth was not an insomniac. As a matter of fact, she quite liked sleep, but there was something about staying up late into the night and into the early hours of the morning that fascinated her. It was a sacred time when everything was quiet, a peace washing over the world. It was dark and still but not in a scary way, she could only see the beauty in it all. The stars, the moon, the lights of the cities and towns, how the blue melted to black melted to blue again.

The night made her come alive, more awake, more aware of everything around her. It provided her a comfort, a pocket out of this world and time itself where she could just be. It made her want to draw.

Her fingers itched to hold the sketchpad, pencil already twirling in her hand, as she slipped on a warm hoodie. Most nights she could just stay in her room and draw, others she felt compelled to go out into the world.

Tonight was one of those nights. As quietly as she could, she gathered her bag, phone and keys and slipped out into the dark.

Not really having a concrete idea on where she was going, she picked a direction (vaguely leading to the quad) and started walking down it. She was just wandering around, lost in thought, enjoying the night air, when she happened across the brightly lit diner.

She knew about its existence, seeing as it wasn't that far away from campus or her dorm, but she had never seen it this late at night. In fact, she didn't even know it stayed open 24 hours.

It was an old-timey diner, small but cozy and inviting all the same. It stood out against the dark, yellow lights washing over the pavement. In this moment, it looked like something out of an old noir film. She needed to draw.

Quickly, she made her way over to the door and settled into a corner booth, sketchpad already out as she began drawing.

She wasn't sure how long she had been working when a she heard someone near her clear their throat. Her head snapped up at the sound and suddenly she was face to face with a guy giving her a sheepish smile.

He opened his mouth to say something but Annabeth wasn't paying attention. This guy was incredible. Tan skin, dark messy hair, strong jawline, the works, but what stood out most of all were his eyes. They were a bright sea green, the colors melding into each other so beautifully Annabeth wished she had brought her colored pencils or electronic sketchbook.

He was looking at her expectantly and she realized that she hadn't heard a single thing he had said.

A blush rose to her cheeks as she spoke. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

He smiled shyly back, as if he had seen her analyze him. "I said that I'm sorry to bother you but you haven't really ordered anything and technically you have to buy something to stay here…." He drifted off a bit apologetically.

"Oh, oh yeah. No I understand, can I get…" she paused, trying to think of something to order, "hot chocolate?" The ending lifted up into a question because she wasn't really sure if they had that here.

"One hot chocolate, coming right up," the guy confirmed before he walked away.

Woah, okay so the rest of him was just as good as his face. She tried to not blatantly stare at him as she moved around but she couldn't help it. She wasn't really a portrait person, preferring scenes and landscapes. But she did have that one class that was all about drawing other humans and…well he was one of the few people she actively wanted to sketch.

Absentmindedly, she flipped to a new page and started a rough outline of his face.

Once again, she was so focused on her work that she didn't see him approach, this time with a mug in his hand.

She was startled as he placed it in front of her. He quickly drew back.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," he apologized, rubbing the back of his neck. Annabeth tried to not follow the movement.

"It's alright, I was just really caught up in my work," she waved off the apology, smiling at him.

"I'm guessing you're an art student?" he hazarded as if he wasn't sure if he could be continuing the conversation.

She laughed. "Pretty obvious, isn't it."

He chuckled along. "Just a little."

"What about you?" she asked, figuring he was probably another student.

He winced. "Mine's not as exciting, it's engineering."

"I think that's pretty fucking cool. I've always liked science. I'm actually double majoring in psychology."

He grinned, "Damn, you must be smart."

"Speak for yourself, Mr. Engineering major," she teased back.

He shrugged, "I don't know about that, maybe it just makes me a nerd."

"I think nerds are cute." Oh shit, why did she say that.

The blush that rose to his cheeks made it worth it.

He stuttered out a response, muttering something about leaving her alone to continue her work and quickly hurried away.

She grinned as she watched him leave, stopping for a moment to turn back to look at her and blushing when he got caught.

He really was adorable.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Annabeth was back again the next night, partly because she hadn't finished the sketch of the diner and partly because she really wanted to see the guy again. She may have one or two drawing of his face in her sketchbook by now.

She went straight to her corner booth from before, pulling out her unfinished work and starting again. She hated leaving things off unfinished.

"Are you going to become a 2AM regular now?" a voice asked and she felt a smile make its way to her face.

"Maybe? The hot chocolate was good and the view is pretty damn nice." She added a wink and watched him blush again.

"So another hot chocolate?" he asked, stuttering slightly.

Resisting the urge to hug him, because he shouldn't be this adorable (that and he smelled really, really good), she chose to nod as an answer.

She wished she could say she worked on the diner scene, but when she saw him return to his place behind the counter, leaning on his elbow as he read from a textbook she couldn't help but draw him instead. (Not to mention his arms looked really fucking good like that.)

-.-.-.-.-.-

Annabeth figured that at this rate she would never finish the diner scene. It had been about five days since she had started the original drawing and it was progressing at a snail's pace. On the other hand, her pages were quickly being taken up by her newest inspiration and model, Percy.

Somewhere along those five days she had befriended the shy employee, whose name she learned was Percy, and realized that he was very quickly becoming more than an inspiration.

Some part of her thought that maybe Percy felt the same way, he did always blush at flirtations and had responded to a few of them, but seemed too shy to actually make any sort of move.

She was contemplating this as she rushed out of her class, making her way across campus to the quad to meet up with her friends. She almost didn't recognize him when she finally stopped at the edge of the grass to look for Piper.

But there he was, in all his Percy-ness, wearing dark jeans and a plain black t-shirt (different from his usual black polo and apron) and she was dumbfounded. It was weird to see him out of the diner, during the day. She only ever saw him during those early hours of the morning when everything was under the blanket of night, in the comfort of the cozy diner. It was like their own special time, their own special world.

It was a shock to see him outside of their little bubble. In a way it reminded her that all this was real. He was laughing at something his friend had said. Right, he had friends. Outside of his late night shift. He looked relaxed, if not a little tired (no doubt the late hours) and it tugged at her heart.

She realized that despite getting to know so much about him, their conversations lasted up to an hour nowadays, that she still didn't know everything. And she wanted more. They had seen each other every night for about a week and a half now and she wanted more.

She sighed as she watched him run a hand through his hair, a gesture that was even more appealing now that he was in a tight black t shirt. And she thought her crush couldn't get any worse.

She had half a mind to pull out her sketchpad right then and there to capture him in this element, but she was stopped when Piper ran up to her asking why the hell she hadn't been responding.

She mumbled an apology and walked away with Piper, only throwing one last glance at Percy before making up an excuse for her spacey-ness.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Annabeth figured it was time to take matters into her own hands. Percy was cute, hell he was hot, nerdy but hot. He was also really shy and despite all her flirtatious attempts he didn't seem to be doing anything about it. He could also just be ridiculously oblivious.

She walked into the diner at her usual time, determined to make a move this time. Besides she had finally finished the diner scene. For some reason, she hadn't liked the end result of the drawing, but for all intents and purposes it was done. So with that out of the way she was definitely ready to confront Percy. But upon entering she immediately lost her train of thought.

Was he…? Was he wearing glasses.

He looked up when she entered and gave her a bright smile. Holy fuck. The sight of Percy in glasses was…well she didn't really have the words but it made her want to slam her lips onto his and pull him as close as humanly possible.

She took a breath and closed her eyes, fuck.

"You okay Annabeth?" she heard him ask.

 _No. No, very much not okay._

She opened her eyes. "You're wearing glasses," she responded bluntly.

He blushed when she mentioned them, a hand automatically tugging them self-consciously.

"Yeah, I..uh..ran out of contacts so, I had to wear this old thing. It's not the best but-"

"They look good," the words left her lips before she could stop them.

He shrugged. "They're okay. Make me look even more nerdy," he tried to joke, obviously still a little self-conscious.

"I still think nerds are cute," she quoted herself from a while back.

 _I think nerds are hot, and sexy, especially ones who wear glasses out of the blue and make me want to die._

He blushed, "So you've said." He moved to fiddle with the glasses some more but she reached out and stopped his hand.

"They're fine," she stated as an answer to her actions and his surprised face. She took a breath,

"They're more than fine, they're good."

She stopped for a moment and moved closer, "Like really really good."

They were standing pretty close to each other at this point, all she had to do was reach up and she would be kissing him.

Percy's cheeks were permanently stained red at this point as he looked down at her.

His eyes, looking just as pretty from behind the glasses, flicked down to her lips for a second before snapping back to hers.

She had let go of his hand and he tentatively moved to wrap an arm around her. She shivered at the contact, reveling in the feeling of being held in his arms. She inched closer.

"Um…can I…" he whispered, the question hanging in the air. What a gentleman, she was seconds away from losing all self control.

She nodded, and he leaned down to capture her lips in his. It was a searing kiss, just more than something sweet and just under something more. Annabeth wasn't entirely sure she wasn't dreaming.

They broke away, slightly out of breath.

"I've wanted to do that for a while now," Percy finally spoke up, a hand coming up to rub the back of his neck. A nervous habit of his that she had noted.

 _Why didn't you?_ she wanted to ask. But honestly, he was so close and that kiss had been so good and he was still wearing those damn glasses.

Her response was to pull him into another kiss.

They finally broke apart after god knows how long and just rested against each other.

"You need to wear glasses more often," she finally said after she had caught her breath. Percy looked at her in all his post make out session haze, and she buried her face in his neck to avoid that look.

"I'll wear them just for you," he whispered back, his tone hinting at something more, the last thing she expected _him_ to insinuate. She just smirked against his skin. God, he was going to be the death of her.

She stepped back and reached into her bag, that had been thrown on the counter top haphazardly, and pulled out a piece of paper.

"I was going to give this to you, but I guess it's a little out of order," she said as she handed him the paper.

It was a picture of a rose that she had sketched on graph paper, adding measurements to the stem and petals. Something she figured an engineer would appreciate.

"Wow, this is beautiful," he breathed, looking at her work. He grinned as he read the note and looked up at her, "Yes I'll go on a date with you."

-.-.-.-.-.-

Percy wandered around the shared apartment, cleaning up before Annabeth returned from classes.

He hadn't meant to come across her old sketchbooks, but he couldn't help himself as he started to flip through the pages. His girlfriend had showed him her work, but only the recent stuff.

He paused as he came across a set of pages that all seemed to be sketches of him. First one was his face, the other was him leaning against the counter of the diner reading a textbook, they went on and on and he realized that these were all from when they had first met.

He flipped another page to see a beautifully detailed drawing of the diner itself. There was a post-it-note attached that said _incomplete_.

Before he could examine the drawing further the sound of the front door opening made him get up, leaving the sketchbook lying wide open on the floor.

If he had looked closer he would have seen an addition to the picture drawn in pen. A figure. If he had looked even closer he would have realized that figure was him.

Annabeth would walk in later to see the sketch lying wide open, she would take the note that said _incomplete_ and throw it in the trash.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? Any other college peeps out there?(any engineers(!) or artists?) I personally love shy nerdy Percy!**

 **Note that if this is ooc it's because it's supposed to be, I'm creating a different personality for them!**

 **And thanks again to all of you guys for reading my work! I really appreciate the support!**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!**

 **See ya! :)**


	10. Extra Whipped Cream

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back!**

 **So I found this thing on tumblr and felt the need to write on it. It's a bit different but I hope you like it nonetheless! I wanted to try it out!**

 **So here goes:**

* * *

 **She twirled her spoon through her coffee and fell in love with the boy across the shop for no reason other than he had given her extra whipped cream and had kind eyes.**

Annabeth sighed peacefully as she twirled her spoon, letting the sun shine on her face and warm her entire body. She should get to work but made no motion of reaching into her bag for her laptop. The sun felt nice and the coffee was sweet and in that moment, everything was good.

She scanned the coffee shop taking in the view, her eyes and mind finally resting on the barista. The barista with kind green eyes who had given her extra whipped cream on her latte. She felt herself smile at the thought.

-.-.-.-

He took the next order, handing back the change with a smile. There was no one else approaching so he took a moment to stretch out the little stiffness he had from working all day and relax.

He leaned against the counter and gazed around the shop before stopping on the girl sitting in the sun. The girl he had given a little extra whipped cream to because her shirt was his favorite color and she had the nicest smile. His face softened with a small smile as he turned back to work.

-.-.-.-

She had finished her latte and packed up her bag. She made her way back to the side counter to return the ceramic mug.

He was there, the barista with kind green eyes. He offered her a shy smile.

"Thank you," she said softly as he handed it back. He nodded in acknowledgement and she turned around to leave with a soft sigh.

-.-.-.-

He was about to take the dirty mugs to the sink when he noticed her approaching. The girl with the blue shirt and nice smile.

She thanked him quietly and all he could do was nod in return. He stared after her as she turned and walked away and soft look in his eyes.

-.-.-.-

It had been about a month since Annabeth was in town and as she made her way to the coffee shop she wondered if the barista was going to be there. She wondered if he would remember her. She wondered if he would give her extra whipped cream again.

She walked through the door, the bell chiming merrily. She loved the atmosphere of the place. It all felt so peaceful, as if time itself had slowed down in here, no matter how rushed the outside world seemed.

The counter revealed the same barista as last time, Percy, she noted from the nametag. His eyes were the same as before, green and lit up like a Christmas tree. She offered a small smile and tried not to watch as he ran his hand through his fluffy hair. So, what if he was cute.

And what if he gave extra whipped cream again.

-.-.-.-

It had been a normal day for Percy at the shop. Taking orders, making orders, cleaning, the usual. Just as he had a moment to rest the bell chimed and he looked up to see the customer walking in.

It was the girl from before, who had sat in the sun with her blue shirt and nice smile. He wondered if she remembered him from last time. It had been a while. He saw her relax as she entered the shop, like a sigh of relief. He wondered where she had been for so long.

She ordered the same drink as last time, he noted, offering her a smile in the few words they exchanged. She was wearing a green shirt this time, but it looked just as good. He was mesmerized by the slow blush on her cheeks. So, what if he gave her extra whipped cream again.

And what if she was really cute.

-.-.-.-

Annabeth couldn't help the way her heart jumped at thought of him. He was probably just a nice guy with beautiful eyes and great hair. It probably didn't mean much of anything. But the small act made her feel warm despite the cloudy day outside.

She definitely wasn't sneaking glances his way the entire time she was there. She definitely didn't blush when on the off chance he saw her. And she definitely didn't feel a small tingle when their hands brushed as he took the empty mug from her.

-.-.-.-

Percy was glad for the distraction when another customer came up to the counter to order. But his thoughts kept returning to the girl who was once again sitting in the shop brightening the place with her shy smile. His heart fluttered at the thought of her. It probably wasn't anything much. But her pink tinged cheeks were just too adorable.

He definitely didn't sneak glances at her the entire time she was there. He definitely didn't look away a little too quickly with red on his cheeks when she saw him looking. And he definitely didn't feel a shock when their hands brushed as he took the empty mug from her.

Annabeth wasn't the most outgoing person ever and from what she could tell Percy might be a little shy too. She was back after a week, her only business in town being getting coffee from a certain green-eyed barista.

She was glad to see him there when she walked in, she had been hoping for a chance to try and actually talk with him. Of course, she was nervous at the thought, but she would try.

"Hello," she called politely getting his attention away from the cups he was stacking. It was a slow day and not too many people were in the shop.

"Oh, OH, hi, um, you're back?" he spoke sort of all at once, a little flustered.

It was cute, and now she knew that he definitely remembered her. "Yeah, this place has good coffee." She brushed a strand of hair from her face nervously.

He smiled at the compliment, "Thanks, a vanilla latte?" he asked. He remembered her order.

"Yeah, that would be great," she agreed.

He entered the order and she got out her card. He seemed to hesitate a moment before asking,

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, um...What's your name?" he asked a bit awkwardly.

It occurred to her that she had not needed to state her name before because she had gotten her drink almost immediately afterwards.

"Oh, it's Annabeth," she replied.

He smiled at her answer, "That's a very pretty name," he smiled, "It suits you."

It was only after she had gotten her drink and sat down did she realize the implication behind the words.

-.-.-.-

Percy was still trying to calm his heart from the conversation with her. Now he had a name to go with the face. Annabeth. It really did suit her, pretty, like her. He wished he could get to know her better. There was so much more to her than her nice smile and pretty blonde hair. He could tell she was kind and smart. He wondered what her favorite color was, or what kind of ice cream she liked and what she was truly passionate about.

And when she walked up to him a little while later with her empty mug his heart had picked up again and he wondered if maybe he would be brave enough to ask for her number before she left this time.

She walked up to the counter a little slowly, as if hesitant. Her face was pink by the time she actually reached, handing the mug and a napkin to him. Their fingers brushed again.

He looked down that the napkin and almost had a heart attack when he realized the name, number and heart written on it. He looked up in shock to see Annabeth standing there shyly, biting her lip.

He broke out in a huge smile, one she returned.

A little while later, his phone dinged with a response. Green, it read. Her favorite color was green.

-.-.-.-

The coffee shop was closed, only two people remained. Percy finished the last items on the list before closing and Annabeth sat at a table patiently waiting for him to finish.

"You're wearing the blue shirt," his voice startled her and she turned to look at where he was standing behind the counter. She got up and walked to him.

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"This was the shirt you wore the first time you came in," he explained.

She raised an eyebrow at that, not in a mean way but more of a soft, I-can't-believe-you-remembered way.

He blushed at the response and rubbed the back of his neck, "I remember it cause blue is my favorite color and you were wearing a blue shirt."

She laughed lightly at the explanation noting how his blush deepened and he looked a little more flustered. He was leaning against the counter.

"You gave me extra whipped cream, the first time I came in," she remembered, moving closer to the counter and mimicking his movement.

His eyes were so close now she could see the specks of blue in them, and her breath hitched as he moved closer.

He wondered if she was okay with this, an actual kiss, not the pecks on the cheek from the past few dates.

He asked with his eyes, her smile responded.

The kiss was better than all the whipped cream in the world, light and soft and beyond sweet.

 **He took the next order and fell in love with the girl sitting in the sun for no reason other than because her shirt was his favorite color and she had the nicest smile.**

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? Not all the oneshots are going to be like this, I just wanted to test this one out or fun! Featuring my two shy children tbh.**

 **Also I've never done a coffee shop AU (I know! Gasp! I was just as shocked when I realized) and felt like I needed to go all out.**

 **Thanks you all for reading!**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!**

 **See ya! :)**


	11. Spooky, Sexy and Scary(tm)

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with a spooooky Halloween chapter! I got to say Halloween is like my favorite holiday, it's just so much fun! So I couldn't not do a Halloween chapter :P**

 **I know this update is a bit late but I got bogged down with my writing abilities there for a bit and also I wanted this to be published somewhat close to Halloween so... but don't worry I'm sticking to my twice a month commitment!**

 **Anyway: hope you enjoy!**

* * *

The gash on his cheek was starting to itch, the blood oozing down his jaw. He tried his hardest to not disturb the syrupy trail, even as it made its way over the red and purple splotches marking his skin.

He tried to distract himself from the feeling by inspecting the rest of his body. His arms were filled with irritated scratches and his neck was slit open. He moved his hand towards his hair before abruptly stopping it midway and dropping it back to the side of his torn shirt. His head stung slightly with the chemicals that graced his messed up hair, but he didn't dare touch it.

He marked his victim, a young blonde woman standing off to the side, looking like she was waiting for someone. She was distracted, looking through her phone, and with no one else around, it was the perfect time.

Percy inched closer, a maniacal grin making its way on his face. He was so close, all he needed was for her to not look up and he would have done his job. He gripped the knife tighter in his hand... any second now…

Sensing his presence, the young woman looked up just in time as he flashed the knife in her face. Her eyes widened as she shrieked, hands fumbling as she almost dropped her phone. He grinned again, mission accomplished.

Her face quickly morphed into a frown as she took a moment to catch her breath from the scare.

"Ugh, you actually got me," she huffed, still frowning.

"Kinda my job." He was out of character now but he wanted to make sure she was alright.

"What are you supposed to be anyway?" she asked. She had regained her composure rather quickly, and now that he was no longer worried, he took a moment to take in her appearance.

She was very attractive with blonde hair tied into a ponytail and a vibe that told him she could have taken him down had he been a real attacker.

He shrugged in response. He honestly wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to be other than Scary™. The makeup, for its part, was well done and in the relative dark of the park he was pretty sure no one would be able to nitpick the costume too much anyway.

"No clue, my actual costume is sexy nurse," he deadpanned. He wasn't exactly sure what prompted this line of dialogue but now he was curious to see where it went.

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Sticking with the classics, huh?" He hadn't really expected her to go along with it, the surprise on his face morphed into a grin.

He nodded in response. "Oh yeah, besides, red and white are totally my colors."

At that the girl grinned back and Percy was sure he was the one with a racing heart now. This was going better than expected. "I just want to see you in the heels," she remarked.

He gave an exaggerated wink. "You will."

She raised an eyebrow, "Really? You're gonna wear the heels."

There was a challenge in her tone that made him smirk. "Definitely."

She regarded him curiously. "Alright," she remarked, skeptical. She reached into her bag to grab a pen. "Here," she said writing something down on the map of the park. "I expect pictures."

Woah, he had not seen that coming. But here was this girl giving him her number and a challenge. This had gone _way_ better than expected.

He ran a hand through his hair, still shocked. He was so going to be on the receiving end of Carol's lecture as she tugged every last strand back into place, but it was so worth it.

He barely nodded in response before she walked away with a small wave, leaving him with dumbfounded expression and plans to buy a Halloween costume.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Annabeth's phone buzzed two days later with a text from an unknown number. Curiously, she unlocked it, opening the message and wondering if it was the guy from Fright Fest who had managed to scare her.

She still wasn't sure what had possessed her to give out her number to a random guy dressed up as Scary™ at an amusement park. She didn't even know his name- hell, she wasn't even completely sure what he looked like.

But for some reason the conversation had resulted in a challenge and part of her really wanted to know if he had taken it up.

 _Who wore it better?_

Well, she was about to find out. Following the message was a picture of the classic sexy nurse halloween costume as worn by the girl on the packaging. Next was a picture of a really cute guy wearing the same outfit except the dress was stretching due to his broad frame. He was indeed wearing the heels, his calf muscles clearly straining to keep him upright and he gripped the wall for support.

She wasn't really sure what she had been expecting but admittedly this was not it.

She quickly typed out a reply. _You, definitely_

 _And you're right, red and white are your colors_

His response came almost immediately.

 _Thanks, I think the cap rlly pulls it together_

She smiled as she looked at the cap that rested on the messy raven hair that looked really soft. She wondered if it was.

 _I'm impressed how you got into those heels_

He responded after a minute or so.

 _I did it for the instagram pic_

 _It took me two minutes to take them off_

 _My feet are killing me_

She winced, she knew the struggle. And honestly, it was probably worse for him because he probably had to squeeze into them.

 _I can imagine_

He replied with a gif of a cat screaming.

She smiled, but before she could react he sent another message.

 _But hey, I did as promised, you got to see the heels_

She considered the situation. He had definitely kept up his promise.

After a moment of thought she responded: _that you did, how about coffee on me for all your pain._

Yeah, she could get to know the guy who went all out to wear heels with a sexy nurse costume and sent gifs of cats.

As it turned out coffee actually meant churros and Annabeth was back at Fright Fest because Percy had work soon and a discount for the food vendors at the park. She could get behind free churros.

After meeting him though, Annabeth quickly realized that Percy in a normal jeans and hoodie was by far her favorite version of him (not that the others weren't good.) But seeing him in normal clothes smiling shyly and rubbing that back of his neck, with no costume to hide behind, made her heart flutter.

Now that she had the advantage of light she could see just how mesmerizing his sea green eyes were and how tan his skin really was.

"Hi," he said, offering a small smile.

"Hi," she returned the gesture.

They sat down at one of the food court-esque tables, a little awkwardly. Things were suddenly a lot more real and nerves were getting to her. It was to be expected since so far all conversation besides the first time had been in texts and cat gifs and you can't really do that in real life.

"Sorry," he breathed finally, "You're way cuter that I remembered, also better lighting now." He gestured around.

She nodded. "Yeah, you're pretty cute too, when you don't have blood all of your face or a sexy nurse costume," she teased, hoping to alleviate some of the awkward tension.

It worked when he gave her a scandalized gasp, "I'll have you know, I rocked the sexy nurse costume."

She laughed, "Yeah, you did. Got to say, I admire your commitment, I didn't expect you to actually go through with it." And she really did, that was the reason she had continued to talk to him.

He shrugged, a small smile making its way on his face. "It was worth it for a date with you."

Her heart leaped. So maybe his fun personality had played a factor in her feelings for him. "Is that was this is, a date?" she teased lightly.

He ducked his head and offered another shy smile, "If you want it to be."

It totally was.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Percy had just headed out of the makeshift makeup/break room and into the rest of the park which was aptly decorated for the spooky season. Fright Fest was in full force as guests wandered from ride to ride waiting to get scared by people like him.

He smiled, he was so ready for this. Back in costume, ready to find his next vic-FUCK.

He jumped as he felt fingers poke his sides.

Laughter filled the air as he tried to catch his breath. He frowned as he turned to find his giggling girlfriend beside him. It had taken a year but the tables had turned, unfortunately for him.

"Annabeth!"

She just smirked. "I thought you were supposed to be the scary one."

He huffed and crossed his arms. "I am! I'm very scary." His costume had even been upgraded from last year's Scary™ to vampire.

She raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh."

Oh, so that's how she was gonna play this. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her in, causing her to gasp in surprise. "Shut up," he said lowly.

She stared back at him and there was a moment of silence and expectancy before he spoke again. "I'd kiss you but that'd mess up my makeup."

Annabeth made a face, as he knew she would. He tried not to smile too hard, but honestly, she was too adorable.

"Maybe you should have gone as stuck-up princess instead," she retaliated, still annoyed by the lack of a kiss. So was he, really, but he didn't want another one of Carol's lectures if he messed up the makeup. She still hadn't let go of the hair incident from before.

He looked back at her, affronted. "Excuse me, I'd be a sexy stuck up princess."

She rolled her eyes, but he could see the mirth behind them. God, did he want to kiss her.

"Yeah right," she scoffed.

He couldn't stop himself. He leaned down to meet her lips midway as the overwhelming tingling sensation that came with kissing Annabeth overtook his body.

"What about your makeup?" she teased when they broke apart.

"Couldn't resist my amazing girlfriend," he replied, smiling gently. Annabeth blushed at the words and pulled him in for another kiss.

"Besides," he whispered after they broke apart again, "pink is so not my color."

* * *

 **A/N: And there ya have it! What did you think? What are your Halloween costumes? (maybe you'll even beat sexy nurse Percy :D ) Anyone going to something similar to a Fright Fest type thing?**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts! And as always thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


	12. Galaxies on Earth

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with something I haven't done yet, a soulmate AU!**

 **I have to say that I was inspired by some other fics I read (but the plot is completely original) idk I just loved the whole space thing and had to write on it :P And this is a bit different than the others, but I think it fit the mood of the piece, but anyway that's enough of me rambling,**

 **Here ya go:**

* * *

 _They're beautiful, aren't they?  
_

The words had been splayed across her skin for what seemed like forever. Traced lightly against her collarbone, they were the proof that someone out there was meant for her.

She thought about it often, the words seemingly so familiar yet foreign, like something just out of reach. She sighed softly as her hand dropped from her neck where she had been tracing the words. She wondered when she would meet them, how she would meet them.

The words didn't give away much other than the fact that her soulmate spoke English, and that they were obviously looking at something beautiful. But what?

The mystery snagged at her mind, tugging at her curiosity and keeping her awake into the late hours of the night, thinking.

Annabeth had always been a fan of mysteries. The thrill of solving something, bringing some amount of clarity to the myriad that was the universe. No matter how small or big, discovering something new never got old. It was like an adrenaline rush.

And there was no bigger mystery than the stars. Even now as she gazed across the night sky, letting her thoughts roam free, she wondered if they knew the answers she was searching for.

The stars were an enigma, twinkling from thousands of light years away. She wondered what they knew, what they had seen. She could be looking at stars that already died, or the youth of an old star, only seeing an echo of the past and present.

She had been staring at them her whole life. She could point out types, names, even approximations on how far they were. She could give all the scientific data, of course that was her job, but she still would never know everything about them.

So familiar yet so foreign.

"Earth to Annabeth," Thalia's voice broke her of her thoughts. "I know you're supposed to be staring at the stars but maybe come back down to Earth for a sec and accept the coffee."

Annabeth smiled sheepishly and graciously accepted the cup. "Thanks Thals, I just got lost in thought."

Thalia rolled her eyes but there was a smile on her face, "You're always drifting off. You were touching your soulmark, were you thinking about that again?"

Annabeth blushed. "Yes and no."

Thalia shook her head as sat down by the computer. "You need to stop thinking about it so much, I swear it's not healthy."

"I'm just curious," Annabeth defended, "I mean it's a mystery and it's literally on me, how can I ignore it?"

"You'll find them soon enough, now give me the data," Thalia responded.

Annabeth sighed and looked back into the telescope to chart the star they should be monitoring.

But the thoughts didn't leave her.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Saturday nights were Open Observation nights at the observatory. It was when anyone could come in and see through some of the smaller telescopes that were set up and participate in some activities, which were usually for kids, but open to everyone.

Annabeth enjoyed open nights, she loved talking to other enthusiasts and seeing the wonder on kids' faces as they saw night sky.

Her boss had left her in charge of the telescopes this time meaning she was busy the entire time. It was only when she had a moment to breathe did she take notice of a young man with hair as dark as the night sky, standing off to the side.

But before she had a chance to dwell on the thought another family approached her and her attention was diverted once more.

If she had looked up maybe she should have seen him looking at her just as curiously.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"You'll know," Piper declared, "You'll feel it when they say the words, you'll just be able to tell."

Annabeth sighed, "Okay"

"Don't worry," Piper placated, "You'll find them soon enough."

"Yeah, I know, I'm just curious."

"You know you could try out a site…"

Annabeth cut her off, "I know, I know, that's how you met Jason. But those don't always work...and…. I kind of want it to happen naturally."

Piper sighed, "I don't know how someone so scientific can be such a dreamer at the same time. You get em girl, the old fashioned, romantic way."

Annabeth grinned. "Thanks Pipes, see you later."

"Bye!"

Annabeth hung up the phone and walked out of the small break room. Open night was in a few hours and everything needed to be set up.

Annabeth didn't have a particular station this time, which meant she could roam among the guests to talk and answer questions. But it also meant she had more free time. And she hadn't failed to notice the man from before with midnight black hair.

For some reason she was drawn to him, like a mystery she wanted to solve. She couldn't place exactly what she was feeling but she knew she had to talk to him. But before she got a chance he was gone.

She noticed him a lot more after that, he showed up every week and stared at the stars with a wistful expression, like he was searching for something within them.

She could understand, she often did the same. Searching the galaxy for answers of questions she didn't even have yet.

She gazed up at them now, taking a moment to take in the night sky in all its magnificent glory. It was a clear night, and every star seemed to be in a battle to outshine the others.

So familiar yet so foreign.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?"

The voice broke her out of her thoughts and she froze. Heart pounding, she turned to meet the eyes of the person that the universe had decided was meant for her.

It was the man from earlier with dark hair like the night sky. He was more handsome up close, with eyes that twinkled like the stars and a smile as bright as the moon.

She knew instantly that he was the one. He felt like home wrapped in an enigma that she wanted nothing more than to unravel.

So familiar yet so foreign.

"I searched the galaxy for something right in front of me."

The words left her mouth in a whisper before she could process what she had said. She watched his eyes widen, an indication that he had heard her. He held out his arm where the words were sprawled delicately on his skin.

"So did I," he breathed back in wonder.

His eyes had lit up and his smile had brightened and suddenly everything else seemed to dull in comparison.

And when he took her hand in his, she marveled at how well it fit into place. She realized then that she had a galaxy in front of her and it was more beautiful than any star.

* * *

 **A/N: Well there ya have it! What did you think? Did you like it? Would you guys be interested in more soulmate AUs down the line?**

 **Also there is a companion piece for this up! It's called Galaxies on Earth and it's a separate fic with a second chapter that includes Percy's POV!**

 **Please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts! And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


	13. Season's Meetings

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back! I'm so sorry for not uploading as frequently this past month or so, but it's because I've been updating my new drabble series!**

 **It's called Semantics of Love and has a different type of writing style that I am so into right now, so please check it out! I've been updating that weekly!**

 **Anyway, to make up for the missed updates, here is a longer holiday special!**

 **Here ya go:**

* * *

It was that time of year, when Starbucks brought out the eggnog lattes, people's electric bills spiked, and his mom would give him her slightly concerned, sympathetic look when he told her that he wasn't bringing anyone to dinner, _again_.

But really, he loved the holiday season. He just wasn't sure he could take another look from his mom when he inevitably had to update her on the status of his nonexistent love life.

Which happened to be his current source of worry because it was officially December 1st and the question was only a few weeks away.

He was pacing around his apartment in an early onset of worry when his doorbell rang. Who was trying to visit him at eight in the morning on a _Saturday_? Walking over, he peered through to see a head of blonde hair, which only added to his confusion.

But upon opening the door he recognized her as the girl who had moved in a door down from him. He had only seen her in passing up until now and seeing her properly for the first time he was a little blown away.

She was… wow. Definitely an upgrade from crabby old Mrs. Walker, who'd _finally_ moved out last month.

"Hello?" he asked tentatively after realizing that he had sort of been staring.

"Hi." She smiled at him and, honestly, he felt a little weak. "I'm Annabeth, I moved in not too long ago, but haven't been able to properly introduce myself."

"Percy," he managed to respond.

She held up some envelopes. "I gathered as much, they accidentally delivered your mail to me."

"Oh." _One-syllable replies, real smooth._ "I mean, thank you." He accepted the letters.

Annabeth smiled again. "No problem! It was nice meeting you, Percy."

She had really striking eyes, he noticed, a stormy dark grey.

"Uh, yeah, nice meeting you too." He quickly replied.

Her eyes dropped down to his legs. "Oh, and… nice pants."

There was mirth in her tone but he still blushed when he looked down to see that he was still wearing his old Star Wars pajamas.

"Thanks," he mumbled out with an embarrassed smile.

He shut the door and dropped his head to rest against it. He had definitely made a fool of himself. She had been contributing actual sentences to the conversation and he had added awkward responses, Star Wars PJs, and probably a bedhead too . Great.

He could be a more coordinated human being. Next time.

-.-.-.-.-.-

He was proven wrong the second time she showed up at his door in the morning, dressed for work in a pencil skirt.

"They messed up the mail again," she explained and handed him the sheaf of papers.

This time he had been even more rumpled, hurriedly dressing for work while trying to eat a piece of toast.

"Thwanks," he mumbled out, swallowing the last of his bread.

"No big deal, have a good day," she responded.

"Y-you too!" he called after her.

Definitely not functional.

-.-.-.-.-.-

He had to figure out this situation.

Annabeth showed up at his door a total of three more times with his mail over the next week and a half and each time he still hadn't been able to redeem himself.

He figured that's what led him to her door the next day, with jeans and a t-shirt and a plate of cookies, to prove he was a coordinated human being.

Definitely not because he had been unable to stop thinking about her.

She swung open the door and greeted him with a confused smile, but he couldn't help but notice that her hair wasn't in a ponytail and it totally looked like a _freaking_ Disney princess's. Were those natural curls?

"Percy! What brings you here?"

"I, uh, thought I'd bring over some cookies to officially welcome you and all that." He offered her the plate of various Christmas themed sugar cookies.

"Oh! Thank you." She accepted the plate and stepped back. "Would you like to come in?"

He carefully stepped inside the cozy apartment. It seemed that Annabeth had successfully moved in and done a little decorating. A small tree sat in the corner.

She gestured towards it. "I wasn't able to get a bigger one, so I'm sticking with the little guy this year."

"It's nice, you seem to have adjusted quickly," he replied. See? A normal sentence, he was capable of those.

She shrugged and set the plate down on the counter.

"It wasn't too hard. Would you like some coffee, hot chocolate?"

He turned to her and blushed. "Oh it's okay, I'm not-"

She cut him off with a wave of her hand. "I'm offering, don't worry about it. Besides, you brought cookies. No one else here has done that."

Percy ducked his head and shrugged. "Well I figured I'd say thank you, you did drop off my mail. Multiple times. Plus I didn't really leave the best first impression, probably." He muttered the last part but she heard him anyway.

"I didn't think you left a bad first impression, you were very cute." She smiled warmly at him and he probably looked like a tomato now.

"Thanks," he muttered. This seemed to be a reoccurring trend.

"So coffee, hot chocolate, anything?" she asked again.

"Hot chocolate would be good. I, I uh don't like coffee." He figured she'd seen him in a worse state and admitting this probably couldn't do much harm.

Her eyes widened at the response as most people's did when they find out. "No way."

"Yeah," he mumbled, looking a bit sheepish.

"Me too!"

That was… not what he was expecting.

"Wait, what?"

She started to stir in the hot chocolate as she talked. "Yeah, I'm not a big fan of coffee either, you're the first person I've found in a while that doesn't like it."

She handed him the hot chocolate with marshmallows and he might have found his soulmate.

"This might be the beginning of a great friendship," he told her.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Two days later he was back with another plate of cookies, Star Wars tickets, and a plea of desperation.

"Cookies? Twice in the same week? To what do I owe this pleasure?" Annabeth had questioned when she opened the door.

"It's a cry for help and the cookies are to help convince you. I also have Star Wars tickets cause you mentioned you liked it and I hear the new movie is good, but then again you might have watched it so that may be a waste but-"

She cut off his rant.

"Breathe Percy, and come in."

He walked in with an embarrassed smile and handed her the cookies.

"Okay, so what's up?" she asked when they were situated on the couch.

"I have a…request…" he started.

She motioned for him to continue.

"I was…wondering if…maybeyoucouldpretendtobemygirlfriend?"

"What?" she just looked confused.

He took a deep breath and started again.

"So my mom is the sweetest person you could imagine, really, and she's great. But she gives me this look that's a mixture of sympathy and concern and whatever else whenever I tell her I don't have anyone to bring to a family gathering, or even when I visit her." He paused to make sure Annabeth was following along.

"Okay."

"And basically, I didn't want to hear the disappointment in her voice, so I said I was bringing my girlfriend next time I visited."

"Okay?"

"And I don't have a girlfriend!"

"Ah, okay, I see your problem now." Annabeth leaned back on the couch.

"Right, so I was wondering, if you could pretend to be my girlfriend?" He rushed out the words and continued before she could respond, "I know it's a lot. And you don't have to, it's just you've been so nice and not to say I'm trying to take advantage of that, I just thought of you, and you're really pretty, not that that should be a reason wither, it's just you seem like a really cool person and I hope you can help me out and I'm gonna shut up now."

Annabeth looked amused at the rant and laughed when he finally clamped his mouth shut.

"Don't worry about it Percy, I'm down."

"Wait, really?" He was genuinely surprised.

She nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I get it. And besides I'm so tired of hearing my mom not-so-subtly hint that I'm not getting any younger to find someone. How about a deal: I'll go over to your place if you come over to mine. That way we both help each other out."

He nodded vigorously. "Yeah that works. God, Annabeth you're a life saver."

"Nah, I just do it for the cookies."

"Then I guess I shouldn't tell you my secret ingredient."

She rose an eyebrow. "Come one, what is it?"

He looked around then stage whispered, "The grocery store."

She laughed out loud at that, and he was secretly pleased with himself to elicit that response.

Annabeth calmed down then looked at him expectantly. "Didn't you say something about Star Wars?"

He grinned as he held up two tickets.

-.-.-.-.-.-

As it turned out Annabeth's family was first on the list and they ran down their story, which was essentially real life events that led to a relationship, before heading out. Percy was beyond distracted when he had opened the door to reveal her in a dark green velvety dress and he figured out very quickly this was going to pose a problem.

"Relax, it'll be okay. They'll definitely like you."

"I hope so," he clutched the steering wheel. Partly because he was nervous, and partly because Annabeth looked a little too good in that dress.

She laid a hand on his arm and he relaxed under her touch and when they got out she grabbed his hand. He might not make it.

Annabeth's family was kind and welcoming, and he managed to remember the names she'd mentioned. They all seemed to like him well enough, especially her younger brothers, who bonded over their mutual love of video games.

"So how did you two meet?" The inevitable question was asked, and Annabeth answered with the practiced response.

"I got his mail and decided to give it to him, we became friends, and he asked me out on a date to see Star Wars."

It wasn't far off from the truth, and part of Percy started wishing that was the actual series of events. But what really got to him was how easily it was for Annabeth to be his girlfriend. Many times throughout the night his arm slipped easily around her waist, she comfortably leaned into him, they effortlessly joked and teased each other. It was amazing really, and after the nervousness at the beginning faded the night seemed to pass like a breeze.

They got back into his car with smiles on their faces.

"That went well," he remarked as he backed out of the driveway.

"I told you it would," she teased.

"Know it all," he teased back.

"Mmm, you're just jealous cause I'm always right."

"Right, that's definitely it babe."

He froze for a moment. The word had slipped out without him realizing, it had been so easy.

"Yep, glad you agree," she teased back and he relaxed.

He turned to look at her for a brief moment. She was leaning back in the seat with her eyes closed looking absolutely gorgeous. God, he might die seeing her in that dress. He quickly turned back to the road and tried to quell any thoughts that involved it.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Percy wasn't sure who was more nervous, him or Annabeth. It was time to go to Percy's place this time, and he wasn't worried about Annabeth. No, he knew his mom would love Annabeth. He was afraid she might see through his lie. That and the little red dress Annabeth had on this time was mind numbing. He had actually straight up stared at her for a full minute when she had opened the door.

"My mom is gonna love you," he reassured her when she had asked nervously tugging at her curls. Of course, then he had been distracted by her hair which also look soft and perfect for tangling into if he ever brought her in for a kiss, which he was very tempted to do.

He was right, his mom had absolutely loved Annabeth the moment they met. And he was also somewhat right when his mom was able to pick up on something regarding the two of them. The night had been going amazingly well, with both of them slipping into their roles as if they had never stopped being boyfriend and girlfriend.

It was a slow moment when Annabeth was discussing books with his stepdad (while looking undeniably stunning as she was doing so) was he caught staring. His mom had broken his gaze with a smile and the words that momentarily froze him.

"You're falling for her, aren't you?"

He turned to look at her with a wide-eyed expression. Shit. His mom was right. He was so falling for her.

"That's good, I'm happy for you." His mom offered a smile.

It would have been great, except they weren't dating.

Annabeth walked over then. "You okay Perce? You look a bit shaken."

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm good."

She frowned but let it go, slipping her arm though his easily. "Come on, let's go by the tree."

"Ah! Not so fast there." His stepdad stopped them in their tracks. "Look up."

They looked up to find they had been caught under the mistletoe.

Percy immediately blushed. "You don't have to-" he started to mumble but was cut off by a pair of lips.

His brain promptly short circuited and he was completely caught in the overwhelming feeling of Annabeth.

They were both sporting a blush when they drew apart. It might have been the best kiss of Percy's life.

Clearly trying to have a pretend relationship with a girl he was genuinely falling for was not the best idea he had ever had. Because now every time she leaned into him he felt a pang in his heart at the fact that this wasn't real.

They left the house hand-in-hand, a bittersweet gesture for Percy.

"That was fun, your mom's very nice," Annabeth commented as they got in the car.

"Yeah," he replied distractedly.

She frowned at his reaction, and he looked away.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, for the second time that night.

"Yeah." The reply was the same.

Annabeth didn't say anything after that and they drove in silence.

It hurt Percy to do this but he had to figure out what he was going to do. He really liked Annabeth, and didn't want to lose her but at the same time it was hard to do this without wanting it to be real. On the bright side, this should be the last of it.

He quickly glanced over at her, she looked troubled as she stared out the window. And if he was honest he hated seeing her like this.

They arrived back at the apartment complex, Percy quickly thanking her and running away. Well attempting to run away. She caught his wrist before he could go.

"What's going on Percy? Talk to me."

She pulled him insider her apartment and shut the door. Percy just stood, fidgeting a little because how do you tell someone that you are fake dating that you actually fell for them.

After the momentary silence Annabeth spoke up. "If this is about the kiss, I'm sorr-"

"No!" he cut her off, then blushed. "No it's not about that, I just…"

"What?" she asked softly, gently turning his face to hers.

"I can't do this anymore,"

"Do what?"

"Pretend to date you."

"Oh." She took a step back. "It's okay. You don't have to anymore anyway…" She looked hurt. He hated seeing that expression on her face.

Well, it was now or never. He chose now. It was better than him beating himself up about it.

"I like you. Like really like you, I might be falling for you," he stumbled out the words. Really, we're back at this again. He really thought the awkward stuttering phase was over.

Her face broke out into a smile and she stepped back towards him.

"Good," she said softly, leaning in. "Because I might be falling for you too."

The second kiss was just as amazing as the first, if not more. They drew away breathless.

"I might have understated it," he said after they had caught their breath. "I've already fallen."

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Percy! Mail!" Annabeth called as she walked back into the room. Percy was lounging on the couch when she dropped the pile on him.

"Ugh, bills I'd rather not." He groaned as he sorted through the stack. He paused when he got to what looked like a holiday card.

"Wait, this one's for you."

Annabeth walked back in the living room with a mug of hot chocolate and took the letter from him.

"Seasons Greetings, Percy and Annabeth Jackson," she read aloud.

"Who's it from?" he asked.

"It's one of those ad things," she responded, flipping it over.

"We wish you the best, here are out best holiday deals!" Her bored look betrayed the fake tone of excitement.

"What are these super amazing holiday deals?" Percy teased, grabbing the card from her.

He perused through then frowned, "It's all baby stuff. We don't need that."

He turned to Annabeth who had a small smile on her face, "Weelll…"

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? Did you like it? Did I deliver the fake dating au everyone wanted? Did you even want it?**

 **And once again, I have a new drabble series called Semantics of Love and I hope you all check it out!**

 **And wishing everyone the best holiday season (whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I personally don't, but I enjoy the festivities) and a very happy and amazing new year!**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts! And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See you all in 2018! :)**


	14. Grey and Green

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back….late I know! I'm sorry I missed two months of updates! I got really caught up in one fic that I still haven't finished, and it stopped me from writing anything else. But I did write this one a bit longer to try and make up for it! I'll definitely be better about updates from now on cause I am close to finishing the other one.**

 **Anyway, enough from me, here ya go:**

* * *

Annabeth's world was a set of clean cut lines drawn in black to contrast the bright white. Everything was straightforward with some varying shades of grey. Her life was planned and predicted and projected. Everything was built up by familiar shapes and clear lines.

And so she lived in her clean cut world with white and black and grey. She wasn't unhappy, but she wasn't not unhappy. She was fine.

As so she claimed to her best friend Piper, who looked at her with a mixture of disappointment and sadness.

"Annabeth," she started slowly, "don't you ever think that there's more to life than this?"

She turned to face her friend with a look of confusion. "What do you mean?"

Piper sighed and took the textbook from her hands. "I mean, don't you think there's more to just going to classes and doing homework and hanging out with me everyday?"

Annabeth promptly stole the book back. "Yeah, sure... but it's fine the way it is, so why does it matter?"

Piper just shook her head and turned back to her own homework.

"You'll get it someday," she whispered under her breath, so quiet that Annabeth almost missed the words.

She frowned as she turned to the textbook. She didn't see the problems that Piper claimed existed. The world was just how it was, everything just existed.

She shook her head, it wasn't important anyway. Her attention went back to the book and they studied for a little while longer in silence before a boy with a grey shirt walked up to them.

"Hey Piper!" he called as he got closer, instantly drawing a blush to the girl's cheeks. Annabeth watched curiously.

"Hey Jason, what's up?" she replied.

And as Jason gave the obligatory response she took the opportunity to size up the boy. Neat, well-mannered, probably a good student. He fell neatly into a category, the lines matching and the shapes fitting into the slots.

He made sense. She approved.

"Oh, and this is my friend, Annabeth. Annabeth, this is Jason," Piper finally introduced.

"It's nice to meet you," he replied politely, shaking her hand. She nodded in return. Yep, she was right about this guy.

"Nice to meet you too."

He smiled at her once more before turning his attention back to Piper.

"I was thinking, would you- both of you-" he added, "like to come to a party this weekend?"

Before Annabeth could politely refuse, Piper spoke up. "Yeah, we'd love to!"

He grinned back, "Cool! It's super chill, only a few people are going to be there, I'll text you the details?"

Piper nodded enthusiastically and the two conversed further, Annabeth effectively zoning out of the conversation.

She'd really prefer staying in during the weekend, rather than going out. Maybe she could get out of it by claiming an abnormal amount of homework.

"-it was cool meeting you, hope to see you Saturday!" Jason was saying.

She hurried to give a nod of confirmation, because what else was she supposed to do on such short notice? The goodbyes ended and immediately Piper turned to face her.

Once again, before she could open her mouth Piper was speaking. "Nope, I don't want to hear any excuses, you're coming with me to that party."

Annabeth frowned in return but Piper was resolute. "I don't want to hear it. I really like this guy and I want you to be there, please?" she ended.

Annabeth sighed and gave in. She could try and fight more, but it probably wouldn't work, so it was hardly worth the effort.

"Okay," she relented, holding up her textbook again. "And for what it's worth, I like the guy."

Piper's smile and hug made it a bit better.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Saturday rolled around with its grey clouds and Annabeth was growing more and more wary of this party.

"I don't know about this," she said as they walked down the sidewalk to his apartment, "maybe this isn't a good ide-"

Piper cut her off firmly. "No, it's a good idea. Jason's a cool guy, it's not a crazy party, it'll be fine."

She glanced over to see Annabeth chewing at her lip nervously and stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to face her.

"Annabeth," she said, placing her hands on her shoulders and looking her square in the eye. "Please for once trust me, I know this is outside your comfort zone but try it out. Maybe something good will come of it."

Annabeth nodded, maybe Piper had a point.

They climbed a set of stairs to the second floor and stopped behind a door that had faint music coming from it.

Piper knocked and within seconds it swung open to reveal Jason, wearing a black shirt this time.

"Piper! Annabeth! You made it!" he exclaimed, giving Piper a quick hug.

"Of course," Piper responded a bit loudly to talk over the music.

It turned out "a few people" meant around two dozen, which was a lot for the small space, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

A little helplessly, Annabeth clung to Piper as they made their way around the space, Piper saying hi to a few of the people there.

They found some sanctuary in the kitchen where the music wasn't as loud and there were less people.

"What do you think?" Piper asked as she leaned against the counter.

"It's…alright." Annabeth shrugged, not really having an opinion on the matter.

"Come on, it's not too bad," Piper coaxed.

"No, it's not too bad," she agreed.

"Piper!" another voice squealed and some girl walked over to give Piper a hug.

Annabeth just shook her head as her friend was whisked away into the crowd. Great. Now she was alone.

Not that she couldn't manage that. She looked around for a cup to pour out some water because she honestly didn't trust whatever was in the punch.

"Here," a voice broke her out of her search and she turned to come face to face with green.

It was such a stark contrast against all the grey that she froze for a second.

"What?" she managed to ask.

The guy held out a bottle of beer. "I said, here, want some?"

She accepted the bottle, still a bit put off because the green was still staring at her.

"Thanks?" It came out like a question.

He laughed and seemed to vibrate throughout the house. "Are you asking me or thanking me?"

There was mirth in the green now. She was caught even more off guard.

"Thanking you," she affirmed, trying to gather her scattered thoughts. She was a bit annoyed at herself for her behavior. She always knew how to act. And this guy wasn't all that special, all he did was offer her a beer.

"In that case, you're welcome." He grinned back and the green got smaller but it was like his face had morphed into something else.

It was fascinating how much he changed, how much he…expressed.

She wasn't sure she'd met anyone like him before.

"So," he continued, "I don't think I've seen you around before."

"I'm here with a friend," she answered, vaguely looking around for Piper.

"Who?" he asked curiously and the green was focused on her, waiting for an answer.

"Piper, Piper McLe-"

He held up a hand and nodded his head solemnly.

"Say no more, I know exactly who you're talking about. Jason doesn't shut up about her."

"Yeah, she talks a lot about him too," she responded, finally taking a sip of the beer.

She made a face at the taste and he smiled at her.

"Not a fan of beer?" he asked, the green was sparkling now.

She shrugged, "I'm more of a wine person."

He nodded approvingly, "I can get behind that."

The green was on full display as he conspiratorially winked at her, only disappearing for a second.

It was mesmerizing.

"Well Piper's friend, you got a name or should I continue with this?"

"Annabeth," she introduced, holding out a hand.

"Percy," he responded, shaking it back. A tingle went through her body at the touch and she almost flinched, even more confused.

"So Annabeth, what's your major?" he asked, leaning against the counter, seemingly unaware of her involuntary shiver.

"Um, architecture," she responded, still trying to make sense of him. His lines didn't seem to be as clear.

"Damn," he whistled. "That's impressive, I couldn't do it that's for sure."

"What about you?"

"Theatre," he announced with a flourish. "And English."

She'd never met a theatre major before, but at least that gave him some more definition. He'd fit into a slot now.

But as the conversation continued the green stuck with her, a bright color amidst the blacks and whites and greys.

"You're really different," she found herself saying a few hours later. They had moved the conversation to the balcony and it was starting to get dark head was two beers fuzzy and the words just spilled out of her mouth.

"How so?" he questioned, the green once again intent upon her answer.

"Your lines aren't that clear, and you're green," she managed to say in lieu of some sort of explanation.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Maybe you've just had too much to drink," he joked.

 _No_ , she wanted to say, _that's not it. It's different, you're…brighter than the greys_ but before she could Piper was by her side.

"There you are! I've been looking for you! We need to go now!"

"But-" she was dragged off before she could finish the sentence and the last thing she saw were the confused and slightly worried green.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Piper's dramatic exit had been explained by a bunch of drama and she said that he said that whatever else and Annabeth couldn't pay attention.

She couldn't explain it, and she hated not being able to. Because that boy, Percy, was hazy and green and maybe she'd had too much to drink but she couldn't stop thinking about him.

She fell asleep to green.

The next morning felt off like something was missing. She took an inventory of her room and found that everything was there. But somehow the lines were off and the world of grey oddly filtered.

She hated the feeling.

She was suddenly unsatisfied by everything around her and for once followed Piper to get coffee with Jason.

Jason was as nice as ever and politely didn't mention the slight third-wheeling that was happening. Annabeth had zoned out of the conversation and was absently staring around the place when a certain shade of green caught her eye. It was a stained glass vase used for decoration, but it was that exact shade and her focus turned to it.

"Do you have a friend named Percy?" she asked rather abruptly, breaking whatever the conversation was.

Both Jason and Piper turned to look at her and she felt her face heat up. It was uncharacteristic of her, but a lot of things had been recently.

"Uh yeah, he asked about you actually, how do you guys know each other?" Jason asked, still shocked by her statement.

"We don't really, I met him yesterday," she replied.

He nodded, "Oh, yeah he's a cool guy. He asked me earlier if I knew you well but I didn't have your contact information. Actually, you know what, I'll just call him over now."

And with that Jason started a phone call while Annabeth waited a bit nervously for the result.

"Well," Jason said smiling, "he's on the way."

She wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not, but before she could really come to a solid conclusion he arrived at the coffee shop.

This time it was blue that caught her attention. He was wearing a bright blue shirt and as she looked up the now-familiar green was there.

"Hey there stranger, long time no see," he joked, sitting across from her.

"I saw you yesterday."

He smiled as if she had played into the joke. "Wow, you're great at playing along."

"I try."

What was this, was she…banting with him? She shocked herself and one look at Piper revealed she was just as surprised.

Introductions happened again, for Piper's sake, but the entire time Annabeth couldn't focus on anything other than the blue and the green.

She couldn't put her finger on what really made him different but somehow he was and she hated that she wasn't able to figure it out. She hated that the day felt a lot more in place after she saw him again.

She was very glad she had decided to inquire about him.

Jason and Piper had left pretty soon after Percy's arrival and it left the two of them sitting alone.

"So, want to explain what you said yesterday or was it drunk rambling?" He grinned to let her know it wasn't going to be a serious question.

"I wasn't drunk," she stated. "You just don't make sense."

He was silent for a moment before he stood up abruptly.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, okay. Now let's go."

"What where?"

"Well if I don't make sense, I'm not going to start now. So come on." He held out his hand and she hesitated. But one look into the green and she decided to take the chance.

They practically raced out the coffee shop and down the street. She gulped air as she tried to talk and run at the same time.

"Where are we going?" she huffed.

He just grabbed her hand and pulled her along until they had reached an apartment building not to far away.

"What," pant, "what is this?"

He opened a side door to reveal a set of stairs. "This," he gestured, "is the way to the roof."

And a flight of stairs found them on the tiny roof a somewhat tall apartment building.

"But what are we doing here?" she asked for the third time.

"We're not staying here, this just gets us access to that tree." He pointed to a large tree whose branches were flowing part way onto the roof.

He walked up to the branches then used them to climb closer to the tree.

"Come on!" he called as he started climbing down.

"What? Are you crazy? No way!" she yelled back.

"I promise it's safe. And strong, if it can hold my weight, it can hold yours. Besides, we're climbing down."

He held out his hand and once again the green enticed her closer. She found herself closer, the soft blue shirt which contrasted heavily against the dark brown bark of the tree.

They climbed down pretty quickly and she found herself on the other side of a tall fence.

"Where are we?" she questioned, noticing the somewhat wooded area.

"We," he said jumping down the last of the tree, "are in a part of a small wooded area that might be private property.

"What?!" she whisper yelled, all to aware of their situation.

"Relax, technically it's government owned, it's just not open to the public."

"But we shouldn't be here," she replied.

He wiped his hands on the navy of his jeans and smiled. "It's okay, I've done this loads of times and nothing happens. Just trust me on this."

And for the fourth time that day, she set aside her worries and went along with what was happening.

If going to the party was outside her comfort zone she was miles away now, stranded on private property.

She followed him through the small patch of trees into a small clearing that was barely big enough to be considered a proper clearing. But a small patch of light green grass tufted out among the dark trees and they settled there, Percy lying on his back.

"Come here, you get the best shapes from here," he called

Tentatively she lay on her back and looked to where he was pointing. Fluffy white clouds drifted lazily along the light blue sky. Percy called out turtles and whales and boats while she struggled to see what he was.

"I don't see it," she finally grumbled. "Those aren't real things, you're just making it up."

He turned to her, the green looking earnest. "That's the point."

He turned back to the clouds. "We give things meaning, we're the ones who allot importance and meaning towards things. And sometimes you just sit back and give time and importance to the clouds in the sky simply because you can."

"But how can you see all those boats and fish and stuff when nothing is clear?"

He moved closer to her and held up her hand, tracing the shape of a passing whale. "Not everything is clear cut, just look at how the edges of the white contrast the blue and how if you follow it you can get a shape and make it into anything you want it to be."

As he drew in the sky, she saw what he was talking about. She supposed that the curve looked like a tail and the blob could be the face.

She turned to face him and was once again, face to face with a striking green.

They stared at each other for a moment that was only broken by the sound of voices that caused them both to jump up in a panic.

Despite the situation Percy had a grin.

"Run!" he whispered.

And they did, hand in hand.

-.-.-.-.-.-

A half hour later found them seated with ice cream under a large umbrella provided at the outdoor seating of the establishment. It was a bright cherry color and Percy, standing on the table itself, called it a cherry on top.

She rolled her eyes and forced him down before they got kicked out.

"This has been a wild day," she said as they ate their respective cones. "I don't think I've ever done anything that crazy and dangerous."

"Sometimes you just got to live on the edge," he replied.

"Maybe, it was definitely an experience though."

"Those I'm great at offering." He smiled warmly.

"Why did you?"

He shrugged. "Why not?"

It struck her because why not indeed? It was as good as a reason as any. Maybe things didn't always need a straightforward explanation. Maybe sometimes things didn't have one.

She looked once again at the sparkling green, and decided that it was okay.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Annabeth had never really truly noticed the color that the world has to offer. Percy's eyes were a bright sea green and the sky was beautiful magenta during the sunset. The roses on display at the nearby shop were a deep red and the sun looked like a burnt orange.

She also noticed that the sky faded in and out of colors, no clear cut lines separating everything but rather a light hazy gradient.

People didn't fit into neat categories, in fact most things didn't. There was always a nuisance to things that she had ignored.

 _There was more to life_ , she thought, _Piper was right._

Annabeth's world of clean lines and grey wasn't intact. There were splashes of color here and there brought on by the one and only Percy Jackson.

She had to give Piper some credit though, because it was because of her insistence had she been able to step out of her comfort zone and try something new. And she continued to make that choice. It gave her a day she would have never had and a boyfriend she never expected.

Percy brightened her life, made her feel more than just fine.

He had taught her that complacency wasn't growth and stepping outside your bounds of normal to try something new could bring about some unexpected results.

But you'd never know if you didn't try.

And as she giggled her way through an impromptu kiss brought about by the green that had stricken her in the first place, she was very glad she did.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? A bit different from my stuff from before and definitely more reminiscent of my drabble series (Semantics Of Love) but I really enjoy this concept and I wanted to expand upon it.**

 **I wanted to try to delve into the message of trying new things and stepping outside comfort zones because you never know what you can find and it's always a growing experience. It's something I know I need to be better about too.**

 **It's easy to just keep things the way they are because it's comfortable and normal but you won't grow that way. It's good to get out into the world to experience it and appreciate what it has to offer. I hope you guys take this message with you and try something new today, even if its something small :)**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts! And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


	15. A Kind Of Night

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back! And I know I missed a month, I'm so sorry! I really hope this makes up for it because there is a second part to this, details at the end. Also would like to say that a very slight trigger warning, nothing is said, there is just a bunch of implications, and metaphors (cause that's how I roll) but nothing explicit.**

 **This one is a bit different, but I really liked it,**

 **Hope you guys enjoy:**

* * *

A low overhang of fog lingered in the air. The world still fresh and cold and crisp from the rain that had fallen earlier. But now everything lay still as the dark started to overtake the sky, marred only by the reflections of the city and streetlights on the clouds that still littered the sky.

It was the kind of night where anything could happen.

The world was alight with possibilities, good and bad and everything in between. It was the kind of night you didn't want to miss.

So, he shrugged on a jacket, grabbed his keys and walked into the world. He didn't really have a destination in mind so he just went where his feet took him, from roads to sidewalks to a path that led to a makeshift park.

He only stopped when he saw a figure by the old bridge that crossed over the only thing close to a river there was around here.

He approached softly, not wanting to scare the person away. They were sitting on the edge, with their feet dangling off the side, a bottle in hand.

"Hello?" he called cautiously, and was surprised when the figure turned to reveal a girl with a dark hood and striking eyes.

The lamp provided some light and he held his hands up to show he was not a threat as he continued his approach.

She must have deemed him okay, because she just nodded in his direction and went back to staring at the river.

Curiosity spiked he moved to stand beside her, leaning on the ledge she was sitting on.

"What brings you out this late at night?" he ventured, unsure if she would actually answer.

He watched her shrug and turn to him. "I could ask you the same."

He mimicked her movement. "It's that kind of night."

She looked at him curiously. "It's that kind of night," she agreed.

She was unlike anyone he'd ever met before he thought. And they existed in silence before the bottle in her hand clinked against the stone of the bridge.

"What are you drinking?" he asked. She didn't answer and handed him a full bottle of whiskey. She wasn't drinking.

He set the bottle on the ledge after his examination.

"So what are you doing with a full bottle of whiskey then?"

"You ask a lot of questions," she responded, not moving her eyes from the river below her.

He shrugged. "I guess I'm just curious."

"You don't even know me," she insisted.

"Well I'd like to try, if that's okay, and if it's not then at least I know you're a girl sitting on the edge of a bridge at three in the morning with a full bottle of whiskey, and a lot of thoughts."

She turned to him sharply. "How do you know that?"

"Because," he replied, turning to meet her eyes, "There must be a lot of thoughts if you even forgot to drink them away."

She turned back to staring at the river and laughed hollowly. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Another moment of silence passed before he spoke up. "Well, you are brave I'll give you that."

Her face morphed into a frown. "Why would you say that?"

He gestured to their surroundings. "It's late at night and you're all alone."

"So are you," she argued back.

"It's different for me, I'm a guy, you know that."

She sighed and stared down in defeat. "I know."

"So…?" he prompted.

"I don't know if I'd call it brave or just reckless."

"Reckless like sitting at the edge of a bridge with a river underneath?"

She turned to meet his face again. Her eyes held almost a challenge. "Yes," she breathed.

"So why be reckless?" he asked, titling his face in question.

She stared at him long and hard before finally answering. "To live."

The words came out wavering and she looked unsure of the answer herself.

"What if you fell?" He looked down at the water rushing underneath.

"What if I did," she whispered, looking out. Her hand trembled lightly as she gripped the edge.

"Do you know how to swim?" he asked.

She turned to look at him confusedly, unshed tears in her eyes, "I…uh…no?"

He nodded. "Well lucky for you I do, I used to be a lifeguard."

Turning to meet her eyes he spoke earnestly, "So if you fell, I would save you."

She froze at the words and turned away quickly, pinpricks of tears starting to appear.

"Why? You don't know me," she said reusing her line from earlier.

"Because everyone deserves to live," he responded, "You deserve to live."

"How could you know that?" she contended.

He paused for a moment, thinking over his words. "Because, you're wearing an Overwatch hoodie, so I'd say that makes you a pretty cool person in my book." He winked at the end.

She stared at him in shock for a second before bursting out into laughter. It rang through the night and over the quiet sounds of the river.

"It's not even mine," she said finally.

"Well, you're missing out then. I'm gonna have to show you sometime so you see the coolness of the hoodie," he said giving her a knowing look.

"I don't really play video games," she responded.

He nodded, "Alright then, what do you do?"

She was silent for a moment. "I design buildings."

"That's cool, I wish I was that talented," he replied easily.

She huffed in anger. "It's not a big deal, my boss could replace me in seconds."

He shifted so he was leaning more comfortably against the railing. "Maybe, but they wouldn't be the same as yours, would they?"

There was a silence as the words sank in.

"I guess not," she replied quietly.

There was more silence before he felt the need to speak up again. "So what else do you do?"

"You really do ask a lot of questions," she repeated.

He shrugged. "You can ask too."

And when she said nothing he supplied her with the answers to questions she didn't ask.

"I read books."

At her confused expression he went on, "It's pretty on par with being a librarian, that and shelving. And organizing kid's crafts but honestly I shouldn't be trusted with scissors and copious amounts of glue."

"But I also like video games," he continued, "Hence noticing your, or rather not your, hoodie."

"Who's is it by the way?" he asked as the thought occurred to him.

She played with one of the drawstrings. "My friend's."

"Your friend has good taste."

Maybe she caught the meaning behind the words and maybe she didn't. But the fog seemed to clear a little and the chilly night seemed to thaw just a bit.

And maybe that's why she let down the hood to reveal a head of blonde hair that glowed orange in the yellow light that was cast by the lone lamppost near the foot of the bridge.

A light breeze picked up, brushing some slightly cold air into their faces. It felt like a fresh wake up call.

It was the kind of night anything could happen.

She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and let out a sigh. The river ran underneath them, the quiet sound of water flowing and some lone birds chirping where the only things that could be heard.

And they existed like that in quiet company for a bit until he moved back to stretch him limbs. She watched him move.

"Why are you still here?" she finally asked.

He rolled his shoulder and moved back to leaning against the railing. "Because I'm hanging out with you."

"Why?" she insisted, looking at him intently.

"Why are you still here?" he asked instead.

She turned away. She didn't have an answer.

They were silent until he shifted again. "You could sit you know, standing must be rough."

And she was right, the ledge was wide enough to comfortably sit but he just smiled and shook his head.

"One of us has to have both feet on the ground."

Maybe she realized that he wasn't necessarily perfect, but he was trying.

"Why are you still here, you never answered before."

"Neither did you," he pointed out. He watched her chew her lip and the words and saw her eyes were a deep stormy gray, and her hair was a golden blonde.

The night was getting lighter, the fog starting to really clear away.

Seeing her not answer again, he spoke "The sunrise is about to happen, we wouldn't want to miss that."

And with that they turned to the river and watched as the sky got lighter and lighter turning a deep orange and pink. The sun started to peek just slightly through the branches of the surrounding trees and it finally seemed like that world was waking up.

"A new day," she whispered watching the spectacle.

"There's always a new day," he agreed. "Maybe, even a new chance?"

She tore her eyes away from the sky and really looked at him. He took a step back and held out a hand.

She paused for a moment as she looked down at the river then again at the sky. "It's beautiful," she breathed.

And with that she turned, accepted his hand and got off the ledge, stumbling a little as she stood up for the first time in hours.

"You good?" he asked, holding her arm as she stumbled.

She looked at him for a moment when he asked that. "No," she responded.

He gave her a concerned look and she looked right back into his green eyes and managed a small smile. "But I'm getting there."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

He smiled at the words. "Good, that's really good."

"Why do you care so much?" she asked curiously.

"You know, you ask a lot of questions," he teased back.

She gave him a look.

He sighed and offered a smile. "Because no one deserves to hurt this much, because sometimes it's hard to hold on to hope. And sometimes a little help is needed. And I just want to help."

He turned to face the city. "Everyone has so much potential and there is so much out there to discover and create and live for. I would never want someone to be deprived of that."

"You're quite the dreamer aren't you," she replied a small smile on her face.

He shrugged. "I'm an optimist, the hoper of far-flung hopes, the dreamer of improbable dreams."

She looked at him in surprise. "Did you just quote Doctor Who?"

He smiled widely when she got the reference. "See I knew you were a cool person." He winked again and this time she laughed, and it sounded more substantial.

He grinned back. "I'm holding you to Overwatch, I'll even teach it to you if you want?"

She looked at him hesitantly. Agreeing was a promise. A promise for the future. A promise for _a_ future.

She stared at the guy who had spent the night standing beside her on a bridge just to keep her company, to keep her safe. She looked at the bridge where she had ended up the night before.

On the kind of night anything can happen.

And she gazed at the sunrise and the way the world was flooded with color. A new day. A new chance.

And she turned back to his waiting, questioning eyes and held out her hand.

"Annabeth." The word held a thank you.

"Percy." The word held a new friend.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

On the kind of night that anything could happen, something did.

At the time when the world was alight with possibilities, good and bad and everything in between and it was the kind of night you didn't want to miss.

On that kind of night something special happened.

It ended with new friends. Friends who grew close and hugs turned to kisses and something more.

It ended with soft smiles and promises.

And most importantly, it ended with hope.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? There were a lot of topics, a lot of ideas and a lot of messages in this one and a lot were not straight forwardly said, so I just want to say this. You are all important and special in that you bring something to the world that no one else does. And that's worth hanging on too.**

 **That said, if you guys want to read the second part of this fic (the part where they actually get together) then please check out my other series, Semantics of Love! The chapter is the most recent one called A Kind of Day.**

 **So please check out my series Semantics of Love, chapter 25, for the second part of this fic!**

 **And please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially for a fic like this which has so much to dissect, I'd love to see your interpretations on all this.**

 **And thank you for reading, if you've made it this far and have read this fic, it means so much to me, so again, even if you feel down or like you haven't accomplished anything, know that just you reading this means a lot to me. So thank you :)**

 **See ya! :)**


	16. Dancing Hearts

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with something that has been in the works for like forever now and I've finally been able to finish it.**

 **First of all, Shoutout to Penguin1127 for giving me this prompt! I'm so sorry this took so long for me to write, I actually started it a while back but was stuck on how to finish it and the characterizations. It's not exactly the same as you detailed but I hope you like it nonetheless!**

 **Second of all, this goes for any of the other prompts I've gotten, I do try my best to write them, but sometimes it just takes a very long time :P And sometimes I just can't write anything good enough, so it all depends but I promise that I do try!**

 **Third of all,**

 **Here ya go:**

* * *

Annabeth's movements are graceful and precise. Each turn, each jump, each spin is measured perfectly in time with the music. It flows easily despite the strictness in the steps.

The music gets louder, her movements speed up, both building a crescendo until the last note where everything suddenly stills.

There is a moment of silence before Rachel lets out a breath.

"Wow, that might have been the best run yet Annabeth!"

Annabeth is a bit breathless but nods in agreement, meeting Rachel's eyes in the mirror.

"Seriously, if you keep this up you'll be ready for the show in no time," Rachel continues.

Annabeth moves to get a sip of water, listening to her friend go on about the run. She is pretty proud of it too, obviously there were things left to fix, but at least she has gotten the steps down.

They start to pack up, this being the last run of the day, when Rachel reminds her of something she has been actively trying to forget.

"Oh, and I won't be here for the next week and a half, but don't worry I think you'll like my replacement." She ends with a wink it doesn't help Annabeth feel any better about it.

She makes a face. "Why do you have to leave anyway, the show isn't that far out and you really should be practicing with me," she all but grumbles, causing an amused look to take over Rachel's face.

"Come on Annabeth, it won't be that bad. He's a nice guy and knows his stuff. Besides," she adds with a smirk, "you wouldn't want me to miss out on this art convention."

Annabeth sighs, because Rachel is right. She doesn't want to pull her friend way from something like this and she knows the replacement probably won't be that bad, but she just doesn't want to deal with it.

"I promise it won't be bad, and I'll make sure to bring over you some tea from that one lady who's always there."

Annabeth perks up at that because damn that lady's tea is good.

"Okay, fine," she accepts, only somewhat reluctant.

With that thought in mind and the promise of tea, they leave the studio.

-.-.-.-

Annabeth is back again the next day, nervousness really starting to take over. She's always been a somewhat shy person, and despite being in the spotlight a few times, she still was.

Meeting a new person was usually fine, but working with and dancing in front of a new person was bit more nerve-wracking then she would like to admit. Nothing she couldn't handle though, she was a dancer after all, and had to do this sort of thing often.

That's what she tells herself and that's what goes flying out the window when she saw who exactly was going to be Rachel's replacement.

He is undeniably attractive, with tan skin and fluffy black hair. He meets her eye as she enters the room and flashes her a smile. Heat creeps up Annabeth's face as she manages a smile in return.

"Hey! You must be Annabeth, I'm Percy, Rachel's standby for the week," he says cheerfully.

"Hello," she responds quietly, quickly moving to the corner of the room to set down her bag. She focuses on getting her things together and the heat finally starts to leave her cheeks. She takes a deep breath as she starts to lace up her shoes.

Percy looks a bit confused, she can see that much through the mirror, and quickly looks away before they can make eye contact. She should probably be a bit more open and outgoing, but something makes her curl it all up inside.

She starts her stretches in silence and closes her eyes as if prepping for the dance itself. And that's not a lie, she is, but it has the added benefit of blocking his face from her vision.

She finishes all too quickly, and finally turns to face him again.

"Ready?"

Looking a bit off put he nods and sits down at the piano.

The music starts and finally, finally, she feels comfortable again. She lets herself sink into the movement, every leap and turn a natural act. It's as if the music is flowing through her is moving her arms and legs for her.

She finishes the piece with a dramatic pose.

"Wow," Percy breaths, breaking the momentary silence. "That was amazing!"

She meets his eyes in the mirror and allows herself a small smile.

He just continues. "Seriously, that was some of the best dancing I've ever seen!"

"It's not perfect," she mumbles, a blush once again rising to her face. And it really wasn't, just a warm up, her legs hadn't been completely straight, and the spins could have been better.

"If that's not perfect to you, I can't wait to see what is," he whistles.

She needs to stop this conversation now, one because she hasn't blushed this much in a while and two this many compliments couldn't be good.

So, she straightens again and calls next.

-.-.-.-

After a good half hour Percy calls for a break. Not that she wants one but he's almost pleading so she gives in.

He immediately stands up and stretches, his shirt lifting just enough to see a sliver of tan skin. She looks away quickly.

"Damn, I need to remember to stretch too, I'm starting to feel cramped. It's been too long."

Her curiosity is peaked and she glances over from behind the bottle of water she is drinking. "You haven't played in a while?"

She didn't mean to start a conversation, but the words slipped out and he's grinning like he was waiting for the chance to talk to her.

"Yeah, I've been on a little bit of a break recently, trying to focus on getting my masters. It feels good to be back in front of a piano."

He shoots her another smile and she smiles back.

"You're good for someone who hasn't played in a while," she says softly. She watches his eyes light up.

"Thanks!"

And before he can ask her anything she asks to continue with the practice.

The music starts once again, and Annabeth is lost in the dance. When it finally ends and it's time to leave she has a smile on her face from a post-dance high.

Percy walks over to her as she packs up and she doesn't realize until she turns around to find him that close.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," he apologizes, seeing her reaction.

His eyes are sea green, how could she not have noticed before.

"It's alright," she mutters. There's an awkward silence and she considers just dashing out of the room before he speaks.

"I just wanted to say that your dancing really is beautiful and I'm glad to be working with you for the week." His eyes are bright and honest and it's too much for her to take.

"You too," she manages to say, "I..uh…I got to…" and she practically runs out, leaving him standing in shock.

-.-.-.-

Annabeth's heart is still pounding as she enters her apartment from the short walk over. She isn't sure if it's because of the light jog or Percy.

She groans as she realizes her situation and ends up flopping down on her couch. She's never really felt this way about anyone before. For some reason Percy peaks her curiosity. Not only is he attractive he's… _nice._

Not that other guys aren't nice, Jason, her friend Piper's boyfriend is very nice. But her mind drifts back to the bright look on his face when he had come up to compliment her. He seemed genuine in his words, as if he really did like it and really did want to spend the week with her.

 _Ugh,_ and she had reacted in the worst possible way to his kind words.

She lets out a sigh and resolves to get her shit together the next time she sees him, which is tomorrow, which basically means she's going to get over this stupid little interest that she's started to develop and move on with her life.

-.-.-.-

Her resolve nearly breaks when she walks in to another brilliant smile and greeting by Percy the next day. She feels guilty about yesterday and wonders if she should say something.

But her mouth can't seem to form the words so instead she offers a smile and wave and walks to her corner again.

He leaves her alone as she sets up her stuff and stretches, but she can tell he's watching her. She catches him staring with his head cocked a little to the side as if he's trying to figure something out. He looks away quickly when their eyes meet in the mirror. Was that a hint of a blush on his face?

He clears his throat and quickly asks, "Are you ready?"

She nods.

And once again it begins.

Dancing is the easy part for her. The steps are now ingrained in muscle memory and she's focusing on the details, curving her arm, straightening her legs, all the small specifics that are needed to be flawless.

The hard part is during break when Percy wants to have a conversation and she tries not to shy away.

"How long have you been dancing?" he asks as he takes a sip of water.

She shrugs and fiddles with her water bottle. "Since I was five." Feeling the need to elaborate she continues, "My mom signed me up for a class as an activity and I just…fell in love with it I guess."

She tries not to blush at the cheesiness. He nods. "It's impressive."

She shrugs again. "A lot of dancers start at a young age."

"True," he agrees, "but not every one of them are just as in love with it as they were at five years old."

There is a silence as the meaning behind his words sink in. Her face is turning pink and he just has a warm smile on his face. It's too much again. She mutters a thanks and takes a sip of water just to have something to do.

"Let's go again," she manages to get out after taking a few sips. Her face is still pink and the thought lingers a bit in the back of her mind as she picks up the dance.

At the end of practice Percy approaches her once again. This time she's ready and doesn't jump.

He looks a bit nervous which is new cause that's really her thing.

"Hey Annabeth, I was wondering…uh, if you'd like to get some coffee with me?"

She freezes cause in all honesty she was not expecting that. He seems to take the reaction as a rejection because he immediately backtracks.

"I mean it's fine if you don't. Maybe some other time? I'll see you tomorrow!" And it's his turn to run out of the room.

She stands there frozen, still processing what just happened. Okay, breakdown:

Percy asked her to get coffee

She froze

He took it as a rejection and left.

Great.

With her back to the mirror, she slides down to sit on the floor. Why did she freeze?

 _Because you wanted to say yes_ , her mind answers back.

On the rare occasion a guy had asked her out in the past she had been able to politely decline, albeit a little flustered. But with Percy she had wanted to say yes.

Her stomach turns as she realizes this. That and the fact that now tomorrow would be extremely awkward.

She feels horrible. He had just been trying to be a nice person, trying to get to know the person he would be working with for the week. And she hasn't been all that accepting of that.

And she still wants to say yes.

She sighs, maybe it was time for her to give it a chance.

-.-.-.-

As soon as she enters the room the next day Percy opens his mouth and gets hallway through the word sorry, before she cuts him off.

"Yes."

He stops. "Wait what?"

She takes a deep breath. It's now or never. "Yes, I'll have coffee with you."

He looks shocked. "Oh. Okay. I mean, uh, thank you. Would you want to go today after practice?"

She nods and makes her way to her corner heart beating wildly. She can't believe she's done this. The normal silence of the routine falls into pace as she gets ready. Looking into the mirror, she can't help but notice Percy sitting at the piano staring at the sheets in front of him with a smile on his face, it brings one to hers too.

Practice continues as normal with just slightly more blushing and not at all discreet smiles. And as if in a hurry to end, it flies by in a blur of sounds and leaps and spins.

"Ready?" he asks as she zips up her bag and pulls the strap onto her shoulder. She nods because as much as she was looking forward to it, now that it's time she's more nervous than anything.

He leads the way out, chattering about the coffee place and how he discovered it a while back and its undoubtedly the best that's out there. She nods along and tries not to let the nerves get to her.

They set down their stuff at a table and Percy offers to order for her which she gratefully accepts. Once he's walked away she lets out a breath she hadn't known she was holding and tries to calm down. She needs to relax.

The place itself is tiny and quaint and comfortable and there's some combination of smooth jazz playing in the background. Finally taking it all in she actually does relax.

And then Percy returns with drinks in hand and a sweet smile and her heart is doing flips.

"So," he says after they've settled down, "Tell me about yourself, I've been blabbing enough as it is."

She shrugs because she really doesn't know what to say. "I like to read?"

It half comes out as a question, but it launches into a discussion about books and that leads to movies and that leads to a million other things and she finds herself really enjoying the conversation.

She's less shy now that she's actually started to talk and is in the middle of ranting about the injustice of Ron's portrayal in the Harry Potter movies, because somehow after all this time the conversation has come back to that, when it hits her the way he is just looking at her.

There is adoration in his gaze and she halts midsentence because she just has never seen anything like that before.

He frowns at her abrupt stop. "Annabeth, why'd you stop?" he asks.

She takes a sip of the coffee, which is actually really good, to avoid answering. He simply waits.

"Just…" she blushes, "the way you were looking…" She doesn't know how to say more.

He smiles. "I don't know if you know this Annabeth, but you're pretty awesome."

She blushes even more (she didn't know that was possible) and sputters out something only half intelligible.

"No really," he says and there's that honest genuine look in his eyes again, "You're talented, passionate, you love to read, and you're a Harry potter fan! Not to mention, you're…well beautiful."

She just sits there frozen.

"I'm really glad you said yes to this. I'm glad I'm getting to know you better."

Shit. How the hell is she supposed to respond to that. Because if she's being honest, the fact that a guy like Percy asked her out in the first place is shocking. That and he's actually a good person. And the more she's getting to know him, like how he agrees that the new Spiderman movie is the best, and how he talk about his little sister and mother and his weird obsession with blue food, the more she likes him.

Wait.

She likes him.

The thought makes her heart beat a million times faster. She actually has a crush on this guy.

That's never happened before.

And there he is sitting in front of her with a warm smile and kind eyes.

"I…I don't know what to say," she manages to get out because suddenly she's all too aware of every little movement.

"You don't have to say anything, just thought you should know," he says and takes the final sip of his own coffee.

Right. Coffee.

She moves to drink hers too because she needs _something_ to do.

There is a silence before she moves to check the time and damn it's late. How had they talked for so long?

"I should…I should get going," she says, gesturing to her phone and the time.

He blinks as if he too just realized it.

"Yeah of course. It's getting late," he agrees.

They stand up and Annabeth just wants to run away but she wills herself to stand for a bit longer as he gathers his stuff.

"This was good, I had a fun time," he begins and she's seen enough movies to know where it's heading.

"Yeah me too," she agrees and takes a step back. "I had fun, I'll uh, I'll see you tomorrow!"

And with that she hurries out of the café leaving a confused and slightly hurt looking Percy.

-.-.-.-

She's breathing too heavily by the time she gets home because the panic is starting to set in. What is she doing?

She just went on a date and she likes the guy and he seems to like her and he would've probably kissed her but she ran away and it's just a mess.

It probably boils down to she's never really had a real crush before, maybe once in middle school, but after that she just didn't really get crushes. She could appreciate attractiveness but found it hard to actually like someone.

It led to a lot of questions and google searching before the term demisexual appeared and it made a whole lot more sense why she wasn't ready to jump a hot guy like the rest of her friends.

She needed some kind of emotional connection to feel a sexual attraction. And in a way some sort of connection to feel romantic attraction.

This in turn, had naturally led her to get to the age of twenty-six without ever really being in a relationship, or going out on a real date, or…or kissing anybody.

So she had gotten over the whole love thing, because honestly society seemed to place too much of her worth on her love life so she had made a simple decision to just ignore and remove it from her life.

Except, now, she realizes, that she actually likes Percy. After getting to know him she not only likes him as a person, she's actually starting to develop a crush.

It's counterintuitive because she's only known him for a few days and she's demi but this is the most interest she's ever had in anyone. So it's a big deal for her.

She sinks back into her couch as she realizes that she once again left him hanging in away after a really awesome date. She needs to stop doing that. It's like a part of her just reflexively curls up and hides and deflects even when she doesn't want it too. It's a cultivated natural response from years of practice she guesses.

She ends up lost in her thoughts and falls asleep on the couch.

-.-.-.-

The next day she's tired, has a horrible kink in her neck from the couch, and extremely nervous to face Percy.

He's there as always with a smaller smile this time. He seems more withdrawn and greets her with an awkward wave and a hi.

She sighs and walks over to him instead of her corner. She should explain herself.

"Listen, Percy, I-" she begins but he cuts her off.

"Annabeth, I just.." he looks helplessly at her, "I just need to know what page your on because I can't keep going on like this, it's confusing and if I did something wrong, please tell me because-"

She shushes him and moves to set her bag down on the floor. She sits down and invites him to join her.

"I'm sorry for running out like that," she begins once he's sat down. "You did nothing wrong. I really did enjoy myself last night, it was a lot of fun."

"Then what," he implores looking lost and hurt and confused and it dawns on her that she's been so focused on herself. Percy must be feeling awful too, wondering if he did something wrong, if she's just playing with him. He probably has is own insecurities and issues and doubts.

She takes a measured breath and begins again. "I like you Percy. I really like you. And the thought is scary because I haven't really liked anyone. It…It takes a lot for me to like someone."

He's silent and she's grateful that he's just letting her continue.

"And you're really amazing, I just…don't know how to do this."

He gives her a questioning look.

She takes a shaky breath. "I've never done this before, in fact I've spent so much of my life just ignoring it and focusing on other things that I…I don't know what to do."

She's trying hard not to cry because that's the last impression she wants to make but her eyes are wet and his gaze softens. He holds out his arms, inviting her for a hug and she reflexively moves away. But after a second she overcomes it and sinks in.

Percy's hugs might be the best thing in the world.

They sit there in silence for a while until she composes herself some more and pulls away.

"Annabeth," he begins, "it's okay. It's okay to feel nervous or scared or not know what to do. We'll figure it out. We'll take it slow, at your pace. And make it up along the way cause there is no 'right' way to do this."

She nods.

"But," he pauses and looks at her intently, "you're going to need to choose it."

It's her turn to look questioningly.

"I know you said you've spent your life shying away from love, and that's okay. But if you want to try this out, give us a chance, you're going to need to choose to love. To give love a shot. Can you do that?"

He's silent after that, waiting for her and she appreciates the space he's giving her. She understands what he's saying and it makes sense. She has spent a long time closing herself off.

It was time to take a chance, a leap if you will, and choose love.

She nods. "Yes, I'm willing to do that."

The smile she gets in return makes her heart twist in a way that made her feel warm and giddy at the same time.

-.-.-.-

The lights dim. A solo piano begins a slow tune and in the shadows a figure moves until leaping up to have the spotlight shine down.

She twirls her way around the stage, arms reaching high and soaring through the air as if she's flying. She looks content and happy.

She has always loved to dance, always lost herself in it. It was her first love in life and the way she dances just radiates her passion.

The music flows clearly and beautifully and the red haired woman behind the keys seems lost in the song as well. The audience is frozen in awe, at the beauty before them.

The story is that of love. And when she bows and the curtains fall to the applause she's met by another love. A newer love with sea green eyes and a wide grin. A love that pulls her close in a warm hug with a small kiss that makes her heart dance.

* * *

 **A/N: So there you have it! What did you think? I wanted to make Annabeth's characterization a little different. I wanted to bring to light the idea of not finding love or having your first kiss till you're older. Because not everyone gets a high school or even college relationship, and that's perfectly okay, it's not a bad thing and it doesn't mean anything towards you. Sometimes it's just how things work out.**

 **That and I wanted to show the concept of being demi, because not a lot of people know about it but maybe they actually are. Of course my description in the story is just a summary, I encourage you to do your own research to learn more about it. I'm personally demi and have a hard time romantically liking people so I added that in, it could be different for someone else.**

 **Anyway, thanks again to Penguin1127 for the prompt! It's late but really long so I hope that helps to make up for it :P**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts! And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


	17. Ticket To My Heart

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back! And just in time for this month's update! Sorry it's been so last minute, this month has been a busy :P**

 **Also would like to say thank you to ama-Zhang for the prompt on this one! I changed it a bit but I hope you like how it turned out! And thanks again for the prompt!**

 **And as a reminder if you have sent me a prompt I do have them noted down it just sometimes takes a while for me to be able to write it! So hang in there!**

 **Also also I apologize for the gratuitous amounts of FNAF references in this fic lol :P**

 **Here ya go:**

* * *

So maybe he had a death wish. Or maybe just a money wish. Well, the money wish outweighed the death wish and here he was walking into work at a FNAF come to life, everyone's favorite children's pizza and entertainment center, Chuck E. Cheese's.

It was his first day and he was just happy to be working a normal day shift, which would hopefully mean not being haunted by dead children's souls stuffed in animatronic suits.

Jason, the guy who had been roped into showing him the ropes the day before, greeted him as he entered.

"Hey man! You ready?"

Percy smiled and waved back. Jason might be a pleb who didn't know about horror videogames involving a creepy stuffed bear and his equally creepy friends, but he was a cool dude and nice enough to give Percy some pro-tips for the job.

"Ready as I'll ever be," he responded, moving to the break room to put his stuff in a locker.

"It's not so bad, you're not on party duty today so we'll start you off with working the counter. You probably won't have to do much except occasionally wander the floor to make sure things are okay or direct someone if they need help," Jason explained.

They made their way to the long counter that supplied everything from coins to prizes. Jason took his place at the prizes with Percy just a little ways off in the middle.

Jason was right, there wasn't too much to do. _Occasionally_ someone asked him for directions or for some coins, which he easily provided, having worked a register before.

He watched as the other employees herded children or moved around carrying the pizzas for the parties. Working a party seemed like a lot of work and stress. He was lucky to be one of the people on the floor, away from the parties and the creepy animatronics who sang Happy Birthday.

Every fifteen minutes or so Jason instructed him to walk the floor and make sure that things were running smoothly, and no kid was going crazy. It was on one of these walks when he was stopped for the first time.

"Excuse me! We need your help!" the kid, wearing a SpongeBob shirt, tugging on his arm couldn't have been more than ten.

"What's up?" he asked, though doubting he would be able to solve the problem.

"Well, the tickets aren't coming out, and we just won a jackpot!" the kid explained excitedly as he led him towards one of the spin machines that just gave you tickets without any real effort other than spinning the wheel.

It was indeed stuck on 500 and he understood the kid's excitement, five hundred was nothing to scoff at.

As they got closer he saw another kid, wait were they twins? And a girl who could have been their sister standing by the machine.

"Matt! You found someone!" the other one called. God this was gonna get confusing. SpongeBob shirt-Matt- nodded enthusiastically and Percy waved weakly, still not sure he could even solve this problem.

The girl, upon closer inspection, was around his age with blonde curly hair framing her face. She offered a half apologetic smile.

Percy smiled back and turned his attention to the machine where the twins were still babbling.

"It gave us like ten tickets before it stopped," the other one, blue shirt, explained holding up the ten tickets.

Matt nodded along with his brother and asked, "But you'll get us the 500 right?"

"Uhhh…" Percy inspected the machine and the ticket slot, both offering no help. He should get Jason.

"Can you fix it?" the girl finally asked curiously, her head tilted to the side in question.

"Um, well…" he responded, shrugging, "Maybe?"

"What do you mean maybe?" She raised an eyebrow, looking amused.

"Well, it's my first day and I don't have the key to get into the machine, so I'm not sure," he replied, wincing a bit.

"Didn't they train you?" she asked curiously.

Well they had, the only thing he could remember Jason saying was… He moved to the machine and gave it a kick. For a moment nothing happened except Percy's foot hurting a bit, but then the machine started up and more tickets started to come through.

"I can't believe that worked," the girl said, barely holding back laughter as the twins hurriedly collected more tickets, shouting excitedly.

"Honestly neither can I, my foot hurts." Percy frowned as he put some weight on the foot.

"I can imagine, it looked like it hurt. Isn't there a better way to fix stuff around here?"

He shrugged. "Probably, I just don't know it. Like I said, first day."

She smiled. "How are you liking it so far?"

"Well, I mean I'm not dead and there's nothing haunting me so I'll take that as a win."

"Did you do something that would merit haunting?" the girl asked, looking surprised at the answer.

But before he could respond, she continued, "Are you the purple guy?"

"How did you know?" he gasped dramatically, grinning because this girl just made a Five Nights at Freddy's refence and that made her cool in his book.

She was about to respond when one of the twins, blue shirt, came up to them and told them the machine had stopped working again.

Percy put on a brave face and went in for another kick.

Nothing.

They all waited in anticipation and…

Still nothing.

Well.

"How many tickets do you guys have?" he asked the boys, who immediately started counting tickets.

"Thirty," Matt finally replied. Percy thought for a second before offering a solution,

"Aright you know what, you guys go get the rest of your tickets counted and when you get to the prize booth I'll add on the 470 you guys have left, that cool?"

The twins nodded, and he put up an out of order sign on the machine before walking back to the counter.

Jason threw him a confused look and he explained the situation causing Jason to roll his eyes and mutter "of course."

"Does this happen often?" he asked, noting Jason's reaction.

Jason sighed. "Yeah, that machine always gets clogged up on higher number ticket wins. I'll go check it out, you good here for a bit?"

He assured him that he was, he did have the training for the prize counter and he could hold it down. Jason nodded and walked off, no doubt to fix or report the machine.

In the meantime, the twins and the girl had walked up.

"Hello again," he called, smiling at the trio.

"Hey…Percy?" The girl, who Percy was getting tired of calling the girl, read his name tag.

"Yep that's me, and you are?" Maybe that was weird, but he wanted to know her name now that they had had an entire conversation, about a videogame no less.

"Annabeth," she introduced. "And this is Matt and Bobby." The twins waved at the sound of their names and handed him the ticket count.

With due diligence, he added 470 to the number and told them to pick out the stuff they wanted. As the two launched into a lengthy debate on what they would choose, Percy turned his attention to Annabeth.

"I'm sure you're having loads of fun," he teased as he watched her sigh at their banter. She turned to them with a smile.

"It's alright, better now that I've met you." She winked and he almost choked because the last thing he had expected was a cute girl flirting with him. And he had definitely noticed how cute she was.

"Good to know I can make the experience better," he managed to get out, still taken back. She laughed at his reaction and it was a really great sound.

"Considering I'm stuck babysitting my brothers at a Chuck E. Cheese's, it can't be too hard."

He fake-gasped and clutched his heart. "I'm hurt."

She smiled. "Nah, I'm kidding. You're pretty cool for working here even though you know about FNAF and the potential dangers of being around stuffed animal suits."

"Pretty cool or maybe pretty stupid, I'm not sure which," he admitted, shrugging.

"Maybe you're just pretty," she replied with another wink and he almost had a heart attack.

"Um... I… uh… you too?" he stuttered out because he was not prepared to be assaulted with such nice words.

Luckily, he was saved from further conversation where he would no doubt incriminate himself more by the twins, who had finally come to a decision on what they wanted from the prize counter.

He was just finishing up getting their things when Jason came back with a look of grim satisfaction on his face.

"It's fixed," he said as if he had just won a war— though, from what it sounded like earlier, it had been an ongoing war for a while now.

"Nice work, man!" Percy complimented, wanting to give Jason some credit.

"Thanks, all good here?"

"Yep, just finishing these guys up, they're the ones who had the issue with the machine," Percy explained.

Jason turned towards the trio. "Sorry about that guys, that one's a bit temperamental."

"It's alright, it worked out in the end." Annabeth waved away the apology.

"Yeah, we still got some cool stuff, thanks Percy!" Bobby shouted as he handed them the foam swords.

"No problem," he replied, grinning at their excitement.

"Well that's it boys, let's go home." Annabeth started to herd them away as they waved goodbye. Percy waved back.

And just as they left the counter Annabeth called back, "Thanks again Percy." It was followed by another wink and Percy blushed remembering the previous conversations.

Needless to say, Percy ended his first day with an ache in his foot, teasing from Jason, and a small crush.

-.-.-.-.-

Said small crush would have been fine and easy to get over if he hadn't spent a considerable amount of time in the following days thinking of all the things he could have said. All the things he should have said.

Because when it came down to it, he had met a cute girl who knew about video games and flirted with him and he hadn't been able to adequately respond to the situation. He hadn't flirted back or even talked to her more.

And he regretted it now, wishing he had a second chance at seeing this girl again just so he could ask about other things, get to know her more, let her know that she was cute too.

He pushed her from his mind, knowing it was no use going over missed opportunities, and focused on getting a little girl a nerf gun from the prize counter.

He had turned away to arrange some stuff on the shelf when a voice made him stop in his tracks.

"Hey."

He turned around slowly and was once again face to face with blonde hair and striking grey eyes he hadn't noticed the last time she was here. Wow they were pretty.

"Hey, Annabeth," he replied, offering a smile.

She smiled back. "Oh good, you remember me," she said, sounding relieved.

"Of course, I remember you, who wouldn't?" he was surprised at the assumption. How could he forget the girl who took the effort to flirt with him? A brave move, honestly, because while he had thought that she was cute he really hadn't planned on doing anything about it.

She blushed a little and he realized that she was a bit nervous. "I don't know, I'm glad you do though."

He had no idea why she was so nervous, if anything it was him who was nervous. Then he realized that this was his second chance.

"Honestly, I haven't really stopped thinking about you." His cheeks lit up at the words, but he said them anyway.

"Really?" she asked, looking surprised and soft and hopeful.

"I mean yeah, I kept thinking of all the things I didn't say last time," he explained.

"And what would that be?" she asked.

He felt his throat dry up for a second. But honestly fuck it, he was just gonna go say it. Not many people get a second chance, he wasn't going to waste it again.

"Well," he began, "I would have said that you're a cool person and your flirting was well-received, that I'm just bad at reacting, by the way you're really pretty too, and I want to get to know you a little better so how about coffee sometime?"

He held his breath as he watched her eyes widen at the words. Then she broke out into wide smile.

"I'd love to, I came in here hoping to ask you the same." And he fell for her a little more right then and there because the courage this girl had to come back just to see him and go for a second chance was unbelievable.

He grinned. "In that case, it's a date."

-.-.-.-.-

The last place Percy wanted to end up in was Chuck E. Cheese's, though he had to give the franchise credit for staying open this long. It had been Annabeth's idea and well, he wasn't gonna question it. To be fair, he did have a lot to thank for it.

So when his daughter's fifth birthday takes place in a Chuck E. Cheese's party room, complete with halfway decent pizza and still creepy animatronics, he doesn't complain.

Besides, when his wife is at his side and his daughter wins 500 tickets and positively _screams_ in happiness, he doesn't have much to complain about.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? Did you like it? It's a more contained fic, all happening in the same atmosphere but that was something I used to do in the original series and thought I'd try again for this one.**

 **And of course I had to add in a little something about missed connections and second chances as a hope to motivate you guys to occasionally go out on a limb and take a chance to talk to or get to know somebody. I know it's hard, I have a hard time doing it too sometimes, but it's something all of us can in some way work towards.**

 **That said, I hope you guys liked this one! Anyone get the FNAF (Five Nights at Freddy's) references? I couldn't write about Chuck E. Cheese's and not include them :P**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!**

 **And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


	18. Second Chance

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with a chapter that strays from the norm but I thought it'd be fun!**

 **Here ya go:**

* * *

When Annabeth wakes up it's the first day of junior year and she might scream because this can't be happening. She stares in horror at her periwinkle room, her long locks, and god why did she wear those stupid hair clips every day.

She's convinced it's just a bad dream because there is no way she is back in high school, especially not when she's just about to graduate college.

And then she stubs her toe on the bed frame that always jutted out a bit to far and the pain is real. Has a dream ever been this vivid?

Her dad calls to her and her heart almost stops because when was the last time she talked to her dad?

She stumbles back and falls on the bed, barely able to breathe properly because this is seeming more and more real and the college life she had been living in seemed more and more far away.

She doesn't believe in Groundhog Day shit, if you can even call this that, but the time constraint of school is present and she finds herself getting ready as easily as she had back then.

Wow, high school really did set a routine. She remembers stumbling in at two in the morning half drunk and thanking her roommate for staying up and thinks that consistent routines really weren't a thing in college.

She washes her face and winces at the bags and acne and really misses her twenty-one-year-old self. But here she is sixteen and awkward and off to hell high school.

She gets on the bus and yeah she still takes the bus at this point in her life and wonders what the fuck she's doing back here and why is she back _here,_ now. What was so special about junior year anyway?

It was just stress and standardized tests and AP Physics hell. She gets off the bus and wonders if she really did get taller by twenty-one because everything seems a little off and she almost misses a step.

She goes to her locker and prays she remembers the combination when she gets there because she sure as hell can't now and she's hoping that the sight will trigger something. A chill washes through her as she steps through the front doors and a feeling of dread starts to overtake her.

She really doesn't want to re-live high school. There's a pit in her stomach and she's blinking back tears at the prospect of a long year in front of her. She wants out. She wants back to her life in college, free and eating hot pockets while half drunk.

She's so lost in thought she doesn't even realize she's bumped into someone until the touch jolts her out of her mind.

"Sorry," she mumbles, looking down and hating herself at how easily she's falling into her sixteen-year-old self.

"It's okay, I wasn't paying attention either."

Her head snaps up at the voice and oh god.

There he is, slightly lanky, with an apologetic smile. He's rubbing the back of his neck and the action is so familiar she almost gets whiplash. And his eyes-oh god had his eyes always been that deep of a sea-green?

She's gaping at him and he looks at her in a mixture of confusion and awkwardness. She snaps her mouth shut and nods, not trusting her voice.

"Right, well, I better…uh…go…see you around?" he ends in a confused question and stumbles away. She watches him walk away and it's a stab to her gut as she remembers the last time she watched him walk away.

She moves numbly through the halls after that and opens her locker like she it was something she did every day. The bell rings loudly and snaps her out of it enough to walk to first period English and everything is coming back to her.

She's almost late and when she walks in to the full class she sees the empty desk that she's always been meant to sit in.

He looks from her to the empty desk beside him and offers a small smile and she almost collapses because she's pretty sure she's figured it out.

The reason she might be back, to this day in junior year.

Percy Jackson.

-.-.-.-.-.-

 _Have you ever wished you had a second chance to meet someone again for the first time?_

She walks into the room and takes her seat and tries not to shake too much. He's still somewhat looking at her from the side and she focuses her attention on collecting herself.

His smile drops a little and it takes all her energy, but she manages a smile back only to see him lighten up.

It's amazing how she can read him. This lanky sixteen-year-old in English class who can't stop playing with the pen and she can read the anxiety and excitement from his face. She knows his dad gave him that pen, and that his ADD prevents him from keeping still. She knows his life story and that he prefers chocolate over vanilla.

She knows so much about a stranger.

It hits her that he's only a stranger _now_. That he wasn't always one. And she wonders if the man she's seen through tiny Facebook stalks still likes chocolate milkshakes or if he prefers the beer she's seen him hold in photos with friends. She wonders if he actually goes on those hikes because he likes them or out of obligation.

He never really liked hikes when she knew him. He would complain and moan about nature trying to kill him when she dragged him with her because she loved hikes.

She wonders if he remembers that she loved them.

The teacher is passing out a paper and she's brought back to the present when the girl in front of her hands her a sheet and she almost laughs because when was the last time someone passed her a paper backwards.

Or maybe she almost laughs cause she might cry.

She looks at the paper, a typical ice breaker for the first day, and then up at sixteen-year-old him and almost cries again because she can fill this stupid paper for him and be 100 percent accurate.

But if she tried with twenty-one-year-old him she would be at a loss for what to put down.

The thought strikes her to her core and she hates the emotional whiplash she's been getting at it's only been twenty minutes. She needs to pull herself together.

Luckily twenty-one-year-old her knows how even though she's sitting in her sixteen- year-old body.

"Hey, so want to do this ice breaker thing? We need a partner and I don't think you have one?"

She turns at the sound of his voice and musters a smile. She's going to do this. She's going to re-learn everything. She's going to re-meet the guy who's going to go from best friend to maybe something more to stranger. And maybe this time she won't fuck it up.

She gathers her courage takes a deep breath and stares into those familiar eyes.

"Sure! Hi, I'm Annabeth Chase. What's your name?"

-.-.-.-.-.-

Percy Jackson, she learns, is a swimmer, his favorite color is blue, and he doesn't like milkshakes. She hides a smile and remembers his face when he finally tries one and declares it as the new love of his life.

But she doesn't tell him that, she just smiles and nods and tells him about herself.

"My favorite color is-"she pauses because sixteen-year-old Annabeth loved a dark grey and twenty-one-year-old Annabeth yearned for a special kind of sea-green.

"Dark grey," she finishes because she's going to do this right.

"That's an interesting choice…I like it!" He grins, and god does she miss that smile.

"Thanks," she replies. She's gotten better at taking compliments and she realizes that that's a skill learned, and her junior year self would have blushed or mumbled. But what's the point in keeping your mind if you can't improve the situation.

They continue the ice breaker, asking the normal, how many languages you speak or if you have any siblings. Annabeth bites her lip when he mentions wanting a little sister.

 _Give it a year_ , she thinks _, you'll get one._

As strange as it is, it almost feels good to re-meet Percy Jackson. It's cathartic in a way. Like scrubbing out old wounds, cleaning them.

And when they make plans to sit together at lunch, and even though it happened this way last time, she feels like it's the start of something new.

-.-.-.-.-.-

They become fast friends, no surprise to anyone, especially not Annabeth. But she still can't help but breathe a sigh of relief when it's established because there was always that tiny, sprinkling off chance that they wouldn't.

But they do and a lot of it is the same, down the milkshakes and the hikes. And she knows what to say this time round when he asks for help or advice and school is actually not that bad because she does remember more than she thought she did (probably because she's prompted by the environment and seeing everything again).

And for once life is good, even though she doesn't have that much freedom and she still needs to sit through AP Physics.

"You know it's crazy how smart you are," Percy says one day as they're chilling at the park.

"What do you mean?" she asks. She doesn't remember this conversation but then again she doesn't always remember everything.

"Like, you always know what to say and you give the best advice, it's like you can see the future."

She freezes at the words and lets out a breathy laugh. "You caught me, I've actually already gone though high school and I'm just re-living it again."

He laughs. "Sounds like a nightmare."

She smiles. "You'd be surprised it's not that bad."

"Maybe that's why you're doing so well in school you already have the answers!" He grins and she rolls her eyes.

"Yep, I've lived the future and the thing I hold on to this time round are test answers."

He nods vigorously. "That explains everything!"

She playfully pushes him, unable to stop the smile from her face. "Shut up."

There's a moment of quiet before he turns to look at her. "Hey Annabeth?" His voice is quiet, and she looks up in concern.

"Yeah?"

"If you've lived the future then you know what happens once we graduate…." He trails off.

"Sure," she decided to indulge him. She wants to know why where he's going with this.

He sighs and looks down. "So what does happen?" He looks back up. "With us."

And she freezes because fuck there is no "us" in the future she's lived.

Memories flash by her eyes, graduating, making promises, some tense meet-ups, text chains disappearing, ignoring and avoiding and then, nothing.

Simply nothing.

And then she looks up at his worried and hopeful face, He's rubbing the back of his neck and letting his hair fall in front of his eyes. He's waiting for her answer.

"I..uh..we.." she stumbles over her words because in all this time she forgot the reality she had lived. She forgot the pain and loss of a best friend. In all this time, going through high school again she had fallen back in her old ways, drinking in the comfort of a best friend.

She realizes then that she doesn't know if she can live that future again. The one without the teasing and reluctant smiles and the bright grins and deep sea-green eyes.

And then she remembers being sixteen and feeling the same as she was now, unable to imagine a future without Percy, and yet it happened. It happened, and she lived through it.

He's looking at her expectantly, nervously fiddling with a leaf and she wonders if his question holds something more.

And fuck it all, if she's going to re-live fucking high school again she's going to do it right this time.

"Well, we remain an us," she finally answers.

And the smile on his face, and hopeful look in his eyes tell her that she responded correctly and she's not imagining anything.

The continue to sit in the grass and this time he sneaks a hand to hold hers. She holds back.

-.-.-.-.-.-

They start dating soon after and it's some of the best years of her life. And she went through college. It's new and exciting and she sees a side of Percy she never did the first time round. The side with surprise hugs and kisses on the cheeks and an arm around her waist.

She only starts to worry when graduation rolls around (and she doesn't miss the irony of her graduating high school, _again_ ).

After graduation, when they went off to different colleges and life happened is mostly when everything turned bad last time. She needs to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Percy notices her anxiousness and gripes her hand tightly as they get in line to graduate and she's relieved at how well he knows her.

She wonders if the Percy she left behind ever thought about how well he knew her. She had changed too in those years apart. He wouldn't have been able to fill that ice breaker sheet either.

It's a two-way street. And she doesn't really know what went wrong last time. But he had stopped talking to her and she him. She didn't know who's fault it was or even what specifically caused it. She only knew it happened.

So how could she prevent it this time round? It's a two-way street. She plans to uphold her end. She looks at Percy and wonders if he's going to uphold his.

And with a sudden jolt she realizes she has no control if he does. She hopes he would, he is her boyfriend this time. But he had been her best friend last time and he hadn't so who's to say it wouldn't happen again.

She has no control over it and there is a chance this reality is going to be as messed up as the last one.

All she can do is hope. Percy must figure out the cause for her anxiety because he turns so he is facing her.

"Hey, I'm not going to leave you," her boyfriend smiles and gives her a kiss.

" _I'm not going to leave you," her best friend smiled and pulled her in for a hug._

She shuddered violently and awoke with a gasp.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Annabeth!" her roommate called as she opened the door to her room and walked in. "I got you some Advil, I know I'm the best roommate ever, just please don't puke everywhere cause you're gonna be in charge of cleaning it."

Her roommate moved to place the glass of water and pills on the bedside table and stopped when she saw her shaking.

"Hey? What's up? You okay?"

Unable to speak Annabeth just shook her head. She was still trembling, covered in a cold sweat with tears in her eyes.

"How much did you drink last night, you're having a pretty bad hangover," her roommate made a face of sympathy.

Shakily Annabeth reached for the water and downed it all in one go. Now that she was more awake she was conscious of the headache that had taken hold and groaned.

"She lives!" her roommate joked. "I'm gonna leave you to sleep off that hangover, I'll leave some waffles for you in the fridge." And with that she walked out, leaving Annabeth alone in her college dorm room and her thoughts.

She felt sad and angry and tired. So so tired, as if she had lived another lifetime. Then again, considering her dream she really had.

The shaking had died down as normalcy returned and she flipped to the side and fell asleep. She would deal with this when alcohol wasn't killing her.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Annabeth bounced with nervous energy, playing with the hem of her shirt. It was red and said the name of her University and she couldn't stop moving.

She got up and started to pace, staring down at the phone in her hand and hovering over an icon.

Memories flashed before her and she was reminded of everything. The friendship filled with teasing remarks and grins, and the dream world relationship with the kisses and hugs. But most importantly she was reminded of a broken promise, and a figure walking away.

She took a breath, pressed the icon, and held it up to her ear and waited.

" _Hello?"_

"Hi"

-.-.-.-.-.-

 _Have you ever wished you had a second chance to meet someone again for the first time?_

When she walked into the coffee shop and saw him sitting there, nervously fiddling with his pen as he offered her a small smile, she realized she didn't need a dream world to have a second chance.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? I think we all have people like Percy in our lives, past friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, or whatever else. People who you never thought would never leave but have. And trust me, I've been there, especially after high school. And mostly that's just a fact of life. People will come and go from your life. And that's necessary, sometimes we need people who might be toxic or harmful out of our lives.**

 **But if a person came to mind when you read this, a person who you look back on with a small smile and wonder how they're doing. A person who went from friend to stranger because life just happened that way. Maybe reach out to them? Re-meet them, learn about how there life is now, see how much they've grown and changed.**

 **You always have the power to reach out and try for a second chance, whether the other person reciprocates is out of your control but you can always try. And if you just want to leave that all in the past that's okay too. I hope that this fic may have resurfaced some fond memories of times long ago. And if it resurfaced regret, then remember you always can try for a second chance.**

 **That said I'd love to hear your thoughts! Please Review!**

 **And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


	19. Run

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back! With time to spare this month! Hope you like it!**

 **Here ya go:**

* * *

She wanted to get away. To pick a direction and just start walking. Walk without thinking about what would happen next or how she would get back. If she even wanted to come back.

Maybe she was running, running the way she had her entire life. From parents and friends and towns and cities.

And maybe that's why she never really felt at peace anywhere, because she knew nothing would stay because she would run. That's what she did.

So here she is, in this city, the one that had the earliest bus, sitting in a Starbucks by the station wondering what now.

That was always the problem with running. At some point she would have to ask what now. She always answered it by running some more.

So she picks up her coffee and walks out the door and heads in the direction of the big buildings and tall skyscrapers.

It's something new at least.

And the city is big and busy and she's surrounded by people and she has never felt more alone.

She walks until she can't anymore, until she's facing miles upon miles of wavy water that seems to mock her because suddenly she is forced to stop. Forced to think about the things she doesn't want to think about. Forced to deal. Forced to stop running.

She sighs and sits down on the edge of the concrete and lets her legs dangle above the green-ish blue water.

"Spare any change ma'am?"

The voice startles her and before she's done turning around he's already speaking again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

His eyes are like the water. That's the first thought that registers in her head, the second is that he stopped talking and is now staring at her.

"I'm sorry," he repeats softly. His eyes seem to be searching her, and she feels exposed.

She looks away and mumbles something that vaguely sounds like it's okay.

"Are you okay?"

That's the last thing she expects him to say and she must have heard wrong but when she looks back up he's still there with a small sincere smile on his face.

God, this random guy who just asked her for change is legitimately asking if she's okay. When was the last time someone asked that? What was the answer?

The shock wears off and she draws within herself, ready to close herself off to whatever vulnerable moment she just had.

"Fine, fine." She replies hastily.

The guy doesn't seem to buy it. He sort of frowns at her and his hair falls into his face a bit. He looks young, she notices, around her age.

"Why do you care anyway? You just want some change."

She winces as soon as the words are out and hates herself when he flinches a little. Somehow, he manages a smile.

"I didn't mean to prod, you just…looked a little lost."

Fuck. She hates this feeling of guilt, this feeling of vulnerability, she hates how right his words are.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you." And she is genuinely sorry.

He waves it off. "It's okay, I've heard worse. You're the first one to apologize about it though."

He sits down as he talks and she's officially in a conversation with a random guy, in a random city, by a random lake.

And it's this random guy who asks her if she's okay.

She laughs a little at the irony of it all.

"What's so funny?" he asks.

"Everything."

He tilts his head to the side in question and his hair falls into his face again.

She sighs, fuck it, he doesn't seem to be a danger. Then again, not all people who are dangerous do.

"You were right," she says instead of answering the unspoken question.

"About?"

"That I was lost, am lost."

He nods at the sentiment and there is a moment of silence.

"Why?"

"Why what?" She'd zoned out staring at the waves.

"Why are you lost? Do you know?"

She takes a moment to contemplate. He's looking at her with intrigue and she needs to look away again.

"Because I run away," she finally answers.

"Why?" he asks again. He's turned his gaze to the water now and she takes a moment to study him. Long black hair, dirty jeans, a well worn jacket, and asks deep questions. Who was this guy?

She realizes she hasn't answered yet.

"Because it's easier than staying."

And the truth comes out. Because that's what it is isn't it. It would hurt to stay, and deal and think and feel. It's easier to run.

"Yeah," he replies, sighing deep and she wonders what his story is.

"Yeah, I get that," he continues, "but sometimes I wonder…."

The sentence drifts off and there's just the water, them and the sounds of the city in the back.

"Wonder what?" she finally asks.

"If maybe running is harder than staying."

"What do you mean?" She thinks back to the situation she had ran from and thinks that running definitely seems easier. She doesn't want to remember the look on his face.

"There is no peace in running," he says, "at some point you've run enough that you end up running from running and it becomes one giant mess."

She lets his words sink in and he's right. Plain and simple, he is right.

"And then you're just left with hurt," she whispers softly.

He turns to look at her, his eyes suddenly seem drowning. "Yeah."

There's more silence, broken by a cyclist who rang her bell.

"Takes one to know one," she says in hopes of prompting his story. He's definitely the most unique person she's ever met.

He laughs like she did earlier, and she knows he gets it.

"I did it. I ran. I ran till even running brought me pain."

"What did you do?" she asks because she feels like she might be getting to that point.

"I stayed."

He turns back to the waves. "I stayed because I had no other choice."

"And?"

"And now I'm asking for change."

The words fall flatly on the conversation and it's a punch in the gut.

He touches her hand and she jolts. She looks back to him ready to pull her hand away but the look on his face stills her.

He looks her dead in the eye. "Don't wait till you have no other choice." His eyes are like the waves they are watching and she feels the weight of the words.

She nods slowly and he retracts his hand from hers and offers a small sad smile.

He moved to get up, leaving her sitting there frozen.

He's almost too far away before she finally unfreezes and yells.

"Hey!"

He stops and turns his head back.

She scrambles up from her position, legs numb, and runs over. Grabbing her bag, she pulls out a twenty and hands it to him.

"Here's to having a choice."

He stares at the money for a moment, before quietly taking it.

"What will you do?"

-.-.-.-

"Run!"

She's breathless but she speeds up anyway, heart pounding, as she finally makes it to the end. The edge.

The water is still a green-ish blue, the waves are still lapping the edge, but this time they don't seem mocking.

The last time she had seen the water she had met a guy who had told her to stay. She had handed him a twenty and gotten on the first bus back to where she came from.

And she stayed. She stayed and fought and dealt and figured some stuff out.

Then she ran. Ran for the last time. So maybe it wasn't running. Maybe it was finally starting over new.

"That's a record!" the voice from before comes up behind her to hand her a bottle of water.

She takes the water and gulps it down.

Whatever. Maybe it was running, maybe it was starting over new, or maybe she had no idea.

But, she thinks with a smile as she turns back to the eyes like the water holding out another bottle, she had finally found a reason to stay.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? Did you like it? I think we all sometimes feel like running away, and it's okay to get a away from things for a while. But at some point we have to face things, because they will catch up. As I once read somewhere, if you don't deal with your problems, they'll deal with you.**

 **But that aside, I hope you enjoyed this, it was a bit different, almost more along the lines of my drabble series Semantics of Love. So if you liked this check that one out!**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts!**

 **And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


	20. In The Spirit

**A/N: Hey guys! Happy Halloween! Sorry for the late update this month but I was saving this one for Halloween specifically. That said this one is a lot different from anything I've written on this series so I really hope you guys like it!**

 **Here ya go:**

* * *

The last place Percy would've thought would be haunted was his new apartment. Yet as he stepped through the threshold he could feel the presence of someone, or rather something. He probably should have vetted it earlier but now he had already signed the lease and all he could do was hope this one wouldn't be that much of a problem.

"Hello," he called out warily. "Are you there?"

Nothing.

He stepped further in and dropped his bags.

"I can feel your presence," he said slowly, "I'm not here to hurt you, I just want to help."

He waited a beat…and still nothing.

Well this wasn't going well. Maybe the spirit wasn't strong enough to appear, or maybe it was just scared or shy. _Or_ , his mind helpfully supplied, _it could be waiting to lash out_.

Whatever the case, he was losing daylight and needed to finish moving in soon.

But, he thought as he brought in more boxes, he was pretty sure it was safe. He had dealt with violent spirits before and this, this just didn't seem like it.

The air around here, the presence, seemed…sad.

It was dark by the time he finally finished moving in and by then all he could do was slump on the couch and close his eyes.

Honestly, moving was not fu-

A loud noise broke his daze and he quickly stood up. The noise seemed to be coming from the kitchen but when he got there nothing had changed or moved.

"Hey, was that you?" he asked the air.

No answer.

"Look," he sighed tiredly. "I'm not here to hurt you, I'm just living here. I already signed a lease so it's too late to move out, I hope you understand. I'll try and talk to you tomorrow okay? Maybe we can figure something out?"

There was no response but he felt a slight chill and hoped that was a confirmation.

The next day, he dug through the boxes and pulled out a Ouija board. Not the best method but the rest of his stuff was still buried with ten million other things and the board would do until he got it all set up.

"Hey!" he called through the apartment. "I got a board, not ideal, I know but I'll get set up with something better after I finish unpacking okay?"

He wanted to be as transparent as possible, he needed the spirit to trust him, to understand he meant no harm. Overnight he had come to the conclusion that most likely the spirit wasn't strong enough. It seemed new and confused.

Of course he had tried to do his research, as he did with every place he dealt with and looked for any violent deaths of note but nothing of interest had popped up. At least he was sure this was a spirit and not something else.

With the board all set up he waited for a moment to concentrate before asking his first question.

"Who are you?"

For a moment there was nothing and he wondered if maybe the board was also too hard for the spirit to use but another cold chill made him stop.

Slowly the piece moved spelling out the letter

The name sounded familiar and he thought maybe he had seen it on the list of previous owners.

"Annabeth? That's a pretty name, it's nice to meet you. My name is Percy, I'm a medium." He introduced, trying to appear as friendly as possible.

Knowing he probably didn't have that much time, he continued, "Well Annabeth I'll be able to talk to you better once I'm settled in but we need to get somethings clear okay?"

The spirit hadn't harmed him in any way yet and he was pretty sure in his convictions but he wanted to confirm that it was going to be okay.

"Do you understand I'm not going to hurt you?

The piece moved to the YES.

Okay good, this was progress.

"Are you okay with me living here?"

Once again, YES.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Spirits tended to be protective and that usually turned into violence.

"Can you promise you won't hurt me?"

YES.

He smiled. All signs were pointing to his original theory being corre-

Abruptly, the lights started to flicker violently and the room started to get very cold. He saw his breath in front of his face for a second before everything suddenly returned to normal.

"Annabeth?" he called out. He wondered if maybe she had lost her energy.

And sure enough, when he looked down at the board, the piece which had been moving toward a letter had stopped midway. He couldn't feel her presence anymore.

With a sigh he started to collect the board. He really needed to get set up if he wanted to learn more. With renewed vigor he set to unpacking the boxes.

A day later he was settled in and finally had all his materials. He set up the mat and candles and filled a bowl with some items covering it all in a layer of sand. And in the darkened room he chanted, calling the spirit to him. When he finally opened his eyes she was there, barely holding her form, but a woman around his age stared back at him.

She was still too transparent, he was unable to make out too many features. Just that she had light hair and a sad face.

"Hello, it's nice to finally meet you," he said gripping the bowl to maintain the connection.

She nodded.

"How long have you been like this? You seem pretty new at this."

She couldn't seem to talk so he looked down at the bowl where the answer was being written out in the sand.

"One? One month? What happened?"

He looked up to see the girl looking away. He stared in resignation as the letters formed in the sand.

"Shot? You were shot?" The wisps of white flowing down, which he recognized as tears, gave him the confirmation.

"I'm so sorry." And he truly was. She hadn't deserved to get shot, she wasn't even a violent spirit. Just a girl who was confused and lost and sad.

He needed to find out what was connecting her to this place. Her old home. If he found out he could help set her free.

"You used to live here." It was more of a statement than a question, but she nodded anyway.

"Is there anything here of yours that is left?

She seemed to think for a moment before shaking her head.

"Why are you here?" He finally asked.

He looked down and saw the letters being spel E

Ah, so that was it. Well he couldn't just salt and burn the apartment. He would need to help her move on.

"Listen, I can help you, I-" He broke off as the apparition started to flicker and his concentration and hold fell through. He gasped violently as he was thrust out of the communication and into the now brightly lit room.

This would take some time he noted, she wasn't strong enough. He wouldn't be able to help her let go, not like this. She needed to get stronger, which seemed counter intuitive, but he had to be able to talk to her.

He would wait.

-.-.-.-

It took about a month or so but she was finally strong enough to move things around with consistency.

It started with small notes in steamed bathroom mirrors which ranged from "hello" to "Doctors apt. 3."

He laughed at that one and thanked her for reminding him. It was good to deal with a friendly ghost for once.

He noticed that she also helped him out around the apartment, putting dishes away, or throwing out empty diet coke cans.

(He told her she really didn't need to do all that, but a pillow got thrown in his face and he took it as a sign to shut up.)

As a result, they were able to talk for longer periods, even just through the board. He learned a lot from those conversations, for instance, her favorite color was green and that she had loved tea. She brokenly explained her dream job that she had been lucky enough to actually get and he just took it all in.

All the details, all the likes and dislikes, all the little things that had made up this human. She seemed to have lived a good life, only to have it wrenched away from her. No wonder she was stuck here.

-.-.-.-.-

A couple weeks later, she could hold an apparition, which scared him the first time she appeared at the entrance to the kitchen while he was making a sandwich.

She laughed silently at the reaction and he felt a heat come to his cheeks as he begrudgingly laughed along with her.

Now he could see her float through the house, watch TV when he did, stare out the window. It was weird to see her react to things, she would roll her eyes at a bad joke or bop her head to a song.

It seemed like she was getting more and more human every day. More and more real.

"Can you try to talk?" he asked one day as they sat on the couch watching the news.

He watched her consider the words. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. She looked down at her lap, disappointed.

"Hey, it's okay, you'll get there," he reassured. She nodded glumly and turned back towards the news. He took the moment to observe her. He had done more digging and learned more about Annabeth Chase, the previous owner to the apartment, and she had been beautiful. Long curly blonde hair, striking grey eyes and a pretty smile.

Her ghost was a mere shadow, the hair was still light, the eyes still striking, but the smile, the smile had seemed to dwindle.

Though, he thought, she had been getting better each day. She seemed happier, more alive. He realized that he had actually grown to really enjoy her company.

His thoughts were broken when an inhumane scream pierced the air.

Percy jumped at the sound. "Annabeth!?" he yelled.

She had disappeared and the whole place was shaking slightly, lights flickering, and so so cold. He could see his breath.

"Annabeth!?" he yelled again, "Are you okay?"

No answer, just more lights and cold and shaking. Slowly though, it started to fade, the air turned warm, the lights stopped flickering, and things were quiet.

But he could here sobbing coming from the corner of the room and there she was huddled close shaking and sobbing, tears running down her pale cheeks.

He slowly moved closer to her, keeping his hands up and posture open.

"Hey," he whispered sitting beside her, "Hey it's okay."

And there they sat, with her crying and him quietly reassuring her until she finally calmed down and looked up at him.

"They shot me," she whispered, her voice dry and cracking from disuse. She looked up to where the TV was still playing, a police chief talking about a series of mobbings they were investigating.

"They appeared out of nowhere on my walk home and shot me." Her voice was quiet, and tears were still running down her cheeks.

"I don't know what happened after that. I..I just knew I had to get home. So I did, but it wasn't the same. No one could see me, or hear me. They took out all my stuff. I…I realized that I had died."

She looked up with a broken look on her face.

"All I wanted was to go home and drink some tea, I just wanted to live."

His heart hurt and the words. He hated seeing her like this. He hated seeing spirits stuck in torment over things that weren't their fault.

He reached out a hand. She stared at it for a second before reaching out her own to meet his. She had a solid touch now, cold and pale, but still solid. She gasped at the contact.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. He understood her, understood she was trapped here because all she wanted was home. And a life.

"You didn't deserve what happened to you. But you don't deserve this either." He gestured to her body. "You don't deserve this cursed half-life."

"It's not so bad," she replied, looking over at him. "Not when…not when you're around."

He smiled sadly.

"But I won't always be around, and you'll be stuck in torment. You'll turn violent and angry. You need to let go."

Her eyes widened, and she shook her heard vigorously.

"No, no! I don't want to go."

He clasped his other hand on top of hers.

"Listen, I know it seems scary, but it's okay. It'll be better on the other side."

She shook her head and looked away.

"I don't….I don't want to…"

He pulled her close. He knew she was scared, and honestly, he probably would be too. And he found himself not wanting her to go either. But it was better this way. Better for her.

"Shhhh, I know, I know it's hard. But you need to let go. You have come so far Annabeth, you just got to finish it now."

Fresh tears had started running down her face at the words.

"Will I see you again?"

He smiled softly. "Maybe. Wait for me on the other side, yeah?"

She nodded, still crying and he was unsurprised to find a wetness on his cheeks as well.

Suddenly, a bright light shone in the room and he knew it was time. He blinked back his own tears as she slowly got up and moved towards it, entranced.

With one last look back she smiled, a true smile, the smile he had seen in the pictures, and stepped in, vanishing in an instant.

He smiled back as his eyes burned from the light and tears.

"Goodbye Annabeth, may death find you alive."

-.-.-.-.-

So this is what it felt like? He looked down to see his own body lying asleep in bed. Of all the ways to go, he was glad that his was peaceful. He was fortunate. Not everyone got that.

He accepted the hand of the reaper, he knew what would happen is he tried to stay. He had spent his entire life seeing those who had.

The bright light was warmer and brighter when it was for him and the peace he felt upon crossing was pure bliss.

He was glad he had been able to help others achieve it.

Weirdly enough once in the light didn't seem all that blinding, it was simply there. But a silhouette in the distance made him stop. Was it getting closer?

The reaper had left and he was alone with the figure that was most definitely getting closer. He waited until the features became clearer and he was left staring at curly blonde hair and striking grey eyes and the prettiest smile he had ever seen.

"Hi," she said softly.

"Hi," he replied with a smile.

"It's good to see you again."

"Yeah," he stuttered, "good to see you too."

His heart was racing in a way that he wasn't sure it ever had when he was.

She reached out a hand and the feeling that overtook him was filled with nervousness and excitement and he never felt more alive.

Together they walked on, hand in hand. Maybe their lives had been preoccupied, driven by a purpose, or cut short in a horrible way.

But now they had an eternity to figure it out.

An eternity to live, even in death.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think of this spoopy Halloween update? Did you like it? Like I said a whole lot different from the other stuff I've written in this series but I hope you guys enjoyed it! There's not really a message behind this one as their usually is in stuff I write, but it's good to just have a little fun with it :)**

 **Please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts! Especially on a chapter like this one!**

 **And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


	21. About Time

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back, just in time for this month's update! It's also a pretty decent length so hope you guys enjoy!**

* * *

Percy Jackson came into her life like a whirlwind, a disaster of windswept hair and sparkling green eyes. He swept her up and spit her out with tangled hair and puffy eyes.

Surprisingly enough it wasn't a bright sunny day, or a stormy cold one or anything atmospheric really. It was some nondescript day with some nondescript weather as she walked into her English 161 class when she sat next to an open desk along the back wall.

That open desk would soon be filled by the one and only Percy Jackson. Not that she knew this, he must have enrolled late, because before it had been some girl with purple hair who didn't talk very much.

She doesn't even remember really noticing him come in or sitting next to her. She had been on her phone, probably texting a friend, or scrolling through Instagram or whatever else.

In fact, she didn't notice until the professor walked in and she put away her phone to pay attention and noticed a distinct lack of purple in her peripheral.

He might have been staring at her because when she turned to look their eyes met and that was the first punch to the gut.

The prettiest sea-green eyes stared back, and she was convinced it was contacts cause no way someone's eyes are actually that green.

They didn't talk, and the professor started class and the day proceeded as normal.

She had all but forgotten about him by the time the next class rolled around, and it wasn't till he sat next to her again did she remember. His green eyes.

They still didn't talk, but he participated in class and she heard him speak for the first time and it was…normal. He made a comment about the article they had been told read. She doesn't even remember what it was. It was nondescript.

He was kind of nondescript. Not remarkably anything really. Just a normal college kid with blue jeans and a plain black t-shirt with hair to match. He wasn't amazingly attractive, nor was he the opposite. He just was. Except for his eyes. His eyes stood out. His eyes were remarkable.

Amazing how this nondescript boy from this nondescript class would change her life.

He turns to talk to her that same day for a group discussion and she makes a snarky response and he just smiles wide and sends a small jab right back and from then on it's a blur.

She honestly doesn't quite remember how it really kicked off. It was probably from talking before class and banting afterward and at some point, they started walking in the same direction and splitting off at the quad and at some point, they got past the quad without splitting.

And somehow in the middle of all this, she started to feel something she never had before. A pang in her a chest, a physical response to him and his presence.

Somehow, she fell a little bit in love.

Sometimes you meet someone beautiful and then you actually talk to them and five minutes later they're as dull as a brick. And sometimes you meet people and you think, not bad, they're okay but then you get to know them, and their face just sort of become them. Like their personality's written all over it. And they just turn into something beautiful.

Percy Jackson, the nondescript boy with the remarkable eyes, turned into something beautiful.

And then he broke her heart.

-.-.-.-.-.-

She's laying on her bed, knee deep in vine comps, when there's a knock on her door.

"Piper!" she yells, "Door!"

She waits, video paused, for some sort of response. She gets nothing.

She doesn't know when Piper left, but somehow, it's already three (even though it was 1:30 five minutes ago) and she figures that her roommate went to class like a good student.

She hears another knock and forces herself off the bed with a groan. It's slightly cold because an apartment this cheap is not going to have good insulation and she shivers as she looks through the peephole.

Her heart almost stops at the sight of green.

She takes a full fifteen seconds to debate whether or not to open the door.

"Yes?" she's only peeking her head out of the small gap she's created, and he smiles. Bastard.

"Hey Annabeth!" He's so cheerful she wonders how she ever loved this boy. Her heart tugs a bit at his smile.

"Hi Percy." Her voice is dull in comparison.

"How have you been?" He stares at her intently, green eyes curious for an answer, and she's pissed off now because where was her answer when she needed one.

"Do you need something?" Maybe it's a bit crass but she doesn't want to deal with this now.

He recoils a bit at the words and she hates how guilt nags at her stomach.

"Um, yeah, so Jason and I are doing this surprise thing for Leo's birthday and I wanted to invite you and Piper."

"Piper isn't here." She isn't helping the situation but she's also feeling vindictive.

"Oh, well could you let her know. I mean, it's on the 23rd at 7, are you guys available?" He seems a little hesitant over his words and she's honestly kind of glad.

"Yeah, we'll be there." She's already moving to close the door.

"Oh, yeah, okay, bye!"

She closes the door on him and doesn't look up to see the look she knows he has on his face right now. She's torn from feeling glad that it's over and opening the door and running after him. Her heart hurts and she decides to drown it in vines.

(It's only later does she realize this could have been done through text and that Jason could have easily told Piper since they were dating.)

(She never realizes that Jason knows when Piper has class and Percy came in the middle of that time period.)

-.-.-.-.-.-

She supposes it's unfair since technically he might not know the situation at hand. But then again, how dumb can he actually be?

"Really fucking dumb," Piper says over a piece of toast. "Also, you aren't as expressive as you think you are, he probably doesn't know."

Annabeth frowns at the words.

"It's true! You guys never really talked…about anything," she waves the toast, "which is kind of the problem here."

"We did," she refutes.

She remembers that conversation like it was yesterday. They were by the Dunkin Donuts on campus, and she had finally, after two months of contemplation over whatever they were (whatever this _thing_ between them was), asked him.

"Do you have any intention of dating me?"

"No…I'm sorry if you thought I did."

She feels like crying as she recalls the conversation. How could she not think that? All those nights he slept over and they ended up half cuddling and talking about stuff. All those moments he leaned over to put an arm around her. Every fucking time he looks at her like his eyes were searching her soul or smiled so warm her heart melted.

Of-fucking-course she thought that he had every intention of dating her!

She had fallen in love for fucks sake!

Piper reaches over to put a comforting hand on her arm.

"Hey," she whispers, "It's okay."

Annabeth is actively trying not to cry because it is so not worth it. Piper sees where her line of thinking is going and starts to refute it before she even begins talking.

"No, don't, don't start feeling bad for your feelings. It's not your fault."

"But he did, he told me, after his ex, he wasn't interested in dating."

"So? You can't control love, you can't control that you felt things for him. And he didn't make it easier by acting so couple-y with you either." Piper ends with a pointed look that is meant to stop Annabeth's guilt trip.

It doesn't.

"But I should have known."

Piper leans back and sighs, a small sad smile on her face. "You did, it just didn't matter."

-.-.-.-.-.-

The party was pretty lit. She can say that because she's had a few drinks and "lit" gets a pass at that point. Cardi B is blaring over the speakers and the birthday boy himself is half-drunk and nailing every word to the song.

She stops dancing with Piper after Jason shows up and decides to really focus on her alcohol consumption.

Drink in hand, she moves towards the back of the house, out into the patio. It's cold but she's warm so it actually feels nice.

"Nice moves." The voice breaks her out of her slow daze.

The green is more hazel in the sparse lighting, but she can recognize that voice anywhere.

"Thanks," she manages to say.

They're silent and she remembers back in English class when they didn't speak. It seems so long ago.

"How are you enjoying the party?" It's a filler question really. It fills the silence.

She nods. "Good, good booze." She's drinking some combination of vodka and sprite and maybe lemonade? She can't really taste it all that much at this point.

"Yeah, Jason's idea."

More silence.

The question must have been eating at him because thirty seconds later he asks, "What happened to us?"

She snorts cause it's funny, and she's tipsy and he's, as usual, not drunk.

"What didn't happen to us?"

"No, I mean it. You barely talk to me anymore."

"Yeah well, that's what you get." She wants to cross her arms but she's still holding a drink, so she settles for making a face.

"Get for what?" He seems genuinely confused.

"Oh, come on," she might be getting annoyed now, "you had to know that I liked you!"

She spills a little bit of the vodka during her exclamation.

He recoils at the words, surprise evident on his face.

"You did?"

"Oh shut up, you knew that, don't make me out to be the heartless one, that's you!"

So maybe she's a little more drunk than she's letting on because the words just spill out.

"I liked you too."

The words are so quiet she doesn't really hear them at first. It takes her mind a full ten seconds to process.

"You what?"

"Yeah," he rubs the back of his neck, "I thought you knew that."

Her whole world is collapsing. All this time she thought that she was the only one who felt anything. The only one who fell in love. She had thought he didn't care. Hell she beat herself up over the fact he didn't care.

Everything she had known to be true about them shattered.

"Well I didn't," she manages to say. She still can't believe it and she's drunk enough to think this might be a dream.

"Oh." He's quiet. They're both quiet for a moment before she bursts out laughing.

"Yet you still didn't want to date me," she's laughing so hard she has tears in her eyes, she's not sure if they're from the laughing.

She wills herself to stop, downs the rest of her drink and throws it on the floor.

"Timing's a bitch, huh." And with that she walks back into the party.

-.-.-.-.-.-

As far as hangovers ago, this one seems to be a two-day endeavor. She's mostly fine but the occasional headache still shows up and she has a strong aversion to alcohol.

Piper has gone out to get more Tylenol and Annabeth lounging on the couch watching a Twitch stream when she hears a knock.

She jumps up and immediate walks to the door, opening it.

"Jesus Piper, what took you so lon-"The words die as she sees who's really there.

The green is really green today and she wonders if maybe her thoughts are still a bit drunk.

"Hey," he says quietly.

She doesn't respond. She unfortunately retained her memory of the party, which includes the conversation she had with the one and only, Percy Jackson.

"Can I come in?" he asks when she continues to stand in silence.

She debates for a second before moving to the side and letting him in. Maybe now they'll actually have a conversation. It's three and a half months overdue.

He sits on the couch and she resumes her position as a huddle in the armchair, laptop set aside.

"So…uh…I don't really know what to say…"

"Then why did you come here?" It's mean, she knows it's mean.

"Sorry, I guess I mean I don't know how to do this." He seems nervous, she notes with some satisfaction.

Biting back another snarky response she says, "How about start with how you feel."

He looks at her for a long moment and she wonders if he's actually going to say anything at all.

"Um…."

"Oh my god!" She's easily exasperated. He winces.

"Okay, how about I start," she's annoyed now and the words just flow out of her, "how about how I liked you, because you kept doing all these really couple-y things, and how I hated myself for liking you because you said you weren't going to date! How about how you touched me and talked to me and looked at me like…like…like you might love me back…how about how I fell in love with your stupid, unresponsive ass!"

It feels good to get the words off of her chest. All those emotions, all the things she had wanted to say, and she was finally able to get it all out.

He's silent as he stares at her in shock.

"I'm sorry," are the first words out of his mouth.

She scoffs and looks away, suddenly unable to see his face. She had bared her heart. Her fears. She had been willing to try. And he…he didn't even think about trying.

"I…" he begins, "My ex really…. messed me up….and I…I just…"

He's still stumbling.

"Yeah, I know," she says quieter, "And I would have helped you work through it you know, I wasn't asking for a relationship, just a chance at a date. And you liked me? All that time you had feelings towards me back?"

Turns out it's not like what the stories will have you believe. It's not just boy and girl meet. It's not just girl likes boy and boy likes girl and they become something more.

Sometimes there is no something more. Sometimes everything happens, girl and boy meet, and the girl likes the boy and the boy likes the girl but nothing happens. Sometimes the pieces don't fit like they are supposed to and there is nothing more.

She had been in love. She was scared because she had never done this before. He was scared because he had.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Hurry up Annabeth!" They weren't late. Piper was the kind of person who thought on time was late.

They were going to a bar with some friends and their friends hadn't arrived. Annabeth rushed out of her room, slipping on her jacket, just as they heard the honk.

It was a cold day and the car was warm and the car contained a certain green eyed someone Annabeth had not been prepared to see. It had been a while, a few months, and surprisingly though they ran in the same circles they hadn't run into each other for a bit now.

She offered a smile but decided to talk to Leo instead who immediately began telling her about his new girlfriend who would meet them there.

Leo's new girlfriend was nice. Percy Jackson was a little drunk. Somehow, she ended up at the bar with a single beer in hand as Leo's nice girlfriend walked away and drunk Percy Jackson stepped up to plate.

For once he didn't beat around the bush. "It's nice to see you Annabeth, I've really realllyyy missed you."

She took a sip of beer in response.

"I spent so much time….so muchhhh…thinking about what you said and I…. I…" He choked up at the words.

"I love you."

And there they were. The words she wanted to hear. After all this time. There they were.

She smiled, a slow sad smile, and raised her beer.

She took a large swig and stepped away from the bar stool. "Timing's a bitch."

-.-.-.-.-.-

It was a nondescript day with some nondescript weather as she stepped out of her last class for the day. It had been kind of boring, but she needed it to graduate this semester.

She wasn't really looking where she was going, instead on her phone, answering a text, or scrolling through Instagram, or whatever else.

Predictably she bumped into someone, or someone bumped into her. She wasn't sure.

"Shit sorry-"The words were cut short. She looked up to see the prettiest sea-green eyes she'd ever seen. She knew they weren't contacts.

They didn't say anything.

"Hi," he finally broke the silence.

"Hi," she replied with a smile.

It had been a year and a half.

"How have you been?" he asked with a small smile of his own that made her heart flutter, just a bit.

And she stared into those sea-green eyes, the remarkable features of a nondescript college kid with blue jeans, a plain black shirt, and messy hair, turned absolutely beautiful and decided.

"How about we catch up over coffee?" An invitation. A start of something new. A second chance at a first date.

His wide smile gave the answer and her heart squeezed in her chest. She felt the telltale signs of another whirlwind coming her way. A whirlwind of sweet kisses and ice cream dates that would leave her with shining eyes and smiling lips.

But it was about time.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you guys think? Did you like it? There are a lot of themes in this one, the most apparent one being timing and how sometimes things just don't work out when they should. And that time really does heal most wounds. Meeting again after a year and a half really helped them both move on from the hurt of the past so they were able to start afresh.**

 **And I also slipped in that little doctor who line, did any of you catch it? It's the line about someone who seems pretty normal turning into something beautiful. I just really love that line and decided to include it in.**

 **I would love to hear your thoughts on this! There's a couple themes that can be discussed here so have at it! Let me know!**

 **Please Review! And as always thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


	22. All I Want Is You

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back, just in time for the holidays! This one is also a bit longer so hope you like it!**

* * *

 _Oh I-I-I don't want a lot for Christmas_

Mariah Carey's rich voice filled the small room, sending shivers up Percy's spine. He had always secretly loved this song, and hearing it now affected him more than ever.

He grabbed the hot chocolate from the counter and made his way to the couch.

 _There is just one thing I need_

He felt a tug at his heart at the words and tried to quell the feeling. It was Christmas Eve, he didn't need to be thinking like this now.

 _I don't care about the presents, underneath the Christmas tree_

He sighed and looked over to the brightly lit tree and the plethora of gifts scattered underneath. Tomorrow they would all be opened, all except for one.

 _I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know_

He smiled sadly, if only, if only she knew.

 _Make my wish come true_

He gazed out the window at the stars and made a wish for the first time in years.

 _All I want for Christmas, is you_

-FLASHBACK-

Percy loved the holiday season, from the pretty lights to the seasonal drinks, he enjoyed every moment.

It had started, as most exciting winter stories do, with an ugly Christmas sweater competition. And that year, Percy knew he had it down. He was Ready To Win.

"That is actually giving me a headache," Jason said, leaning away from him with a disgusted expression.

"Dude, you need a seizure warning on that thing," Leo agreed.

Even Hazel, who was the sweetest of the bunch, had been unable to say something nice. "It's atrocious."

"Thank you," he responded proudly. "I'm so going to win."

And then just before the judging began, she had walked in and somehow outdone the monstrosity that was Percy's sweater.

It was emblazoned: Santa's favorite singer, Elf-is Presley and featured a slightly obscene elf/Elvis holding a mic in front of Santa.

He was going to lose to a _freaking_ dad joke.

He scrunched his face up, this was not the end.

-.-.-.-

He got to know her in passing throughout the following year, his college wasn't that big anyway and she seemed to be ever-present. Her name was Annabeth, she was a year younger than him, and she was so going to lose the next ugly sweater competition.

Percy thought he had the upper hand this time when he walked in with his "Santa Claws" sweater, featuring actual protruding claws from the cat. Not only was it a pun but it had a tasteful amount of Christmas sweater ugly from things protruding. Then she was back with a Drink up Grinches sweater featuring actual mini red solo cups and won.

He actually glared at her this time. Then he pointed said glare at the judges, who were definitely biased. When he looked back at her though, she was raising her eyebrow.

Well, he might have been caught. But she had to have known what she was doing. He watched her walk up to him with an expectant face.

"What?" he asked, somewhat defensively when she approached.

"I should ask you that, why were you glaring at me?" she questioned.

"Because you totally took my glory, just like last year. I was going to win!" So he might have sounded a bit whiny there but come on, he had worked hard on this one.

"Win? You mean the ugly sweater competition?"

He stared at her, was she actually being serious.

"Um, yes," he replied pointedly. "This is the second time you have stole it away from me."

She grinned innocently. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

He narrowed his eyes and felt a smile tug at his face. "Oh, you are so on."

She laughed, and he felt a flutter in his stomach. "Alright, good luck Percy."

She walked away with a wink, leaving him flabbergasted. How did she know his name?

-.-.-.-

All it took was another social gathering and a vague connection through a friend's classmate to meet and talk to her again. Needless to say, they somewhat hit it off.

 _You're so going down_

Percy scoffed at the text and adjusted his sweater. No way was she going to win this time.

 _Hell no, I am definitely going to win_

Her reply came quickly:

 _That's what you thought the past two years_

He frowned at the words.

 _Shut up_

But when he walked into the room to see her already there he almost died of laughter. She was sporting the same sweater that read Jingle My Bells as him. The only difference was that the bells were lower on his and higher on hers.

"Oh my god." She stared at him incredulously before bursting into laughter herself.

They both won that year. And Percy started the round of flirtations that would lead to their eventual relationship by saying, "ya know, I wouldn't mind jingling your bells." (She may have shoved him after that comment with a blush on her cheeks)

-END FLASHBACK-

 _I won't ask for much this Christmas, I won't even wish for snow_

The notes jarred Percy from his flashback bringing him back into reality. The grin that had made its way on his face now softened as he heard the lyrics.

 _I just want to keep on waiting, underneath the mistletoe_

His smile turned sad at the bittersweet memory. They had been fighting at the time, well not really fighting but things weren't that great.

-FLASHBACK-

It was the first time Percy had heard of this plan, the plan that involved Annabeth leaving for a year to be a part of the Army.

"What? Since when was this a thing?" he asked, bewildered.

"Since always," she replied.

"And how come you never told me of this plan?" he was a bit hurt and a bit angry at this point and it wasn't a good combination.

"Well I didn't realize I had to tell you everything," she retorted back, getting angry herself.

"Annabeth, I'm your boyfriend! I figured you'd tell me about a major career decision!" he had half-yelled.

She looked away at that one. "I wasn't sure how you'd take it."

He quieted a bit at the words. "It would have been fine, we could have talked about it-"

"What's there to talk about?" she fired back. "I'm not changing my decision, and you don't seem to be taking it well."

"You're telling me about this a month before you leave! For a whole year! You expect me to be happy about it?" he accused.

It was their first big fight, and it left a sour taste in his mouth.

-.-.-.-

Their friends had picked up on said argument and decided to step in. Leo all but pushed Percy to the doorway where Annabeth was standing and proceeded to yell at them to kiss.

Their confusion was answered by a look upward where the mistletoe hung. Knowing they weren't getting out of it, they leaned in. It was sweet and apologetic, and when they parted the first word was sorry.

"I'm sorry I got mad, I just don't want to lose you," Percy whispered.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, and you're never going to lose me," she whispered back.

They kissed again, oblivious to the uproar among their friends.

-END FLASHBACK-

' _Cause I just want you here tonight, holding on to me so tight_

It's really all he wanted. For her to be here now, with him. The place wasn't the same without her, it lacked a warmth only she could bring.

 _What more can I do_

Nothing, he could do nothing, that was the worst. She was off in god knows where, fighting for the country. She was doing her job. And he didn't want to take her away from it, but he wished it didn't take her away from him so often.

 _Oh, Baby all I want for Christmas is you_

It was the first time since they had met that they would not be spending Christmas together. He missed her terribly.

He took a moment to get himself together, he wasn't going to cry, not on Christmas Eve.

 _-And the sound of children's laughter fills the air_

This time he smiled at the words, remembering how excited his son had been when he left out the milk and cookies for Santa.

His son was the best gift he could ask for. And even though the pregnancy wasn't planned, Annabeth had been delighted. Stressed, but happy. She got a pregnancy leave which had been amazing for Percy because it meant she was with him and safe and he could fret over her all he wanted.

-FLASHBACK-

"Percy I'm pregnant, not dying. I can walk you know," Annabeth pointed out with amusement as he carried her through the door.

"Well sucks because you're stuck with me for like a year. So deal with it." He kissed her cheek and set her down on the couch.

"Are you suggesting that you will be catering to my every whim?" she teased back.

"I'm admitting it."

"In that case, you can start by fanning me with a large leaf and feeding me grapes."

"Okay." And with that he got up and left.

Annabeth's eyes widened, "Wait no Percy! That was a joke!"

-.-.-.-

"Percy I'm dying!" Annabeth screamed as she was transported to the hospital bed.

"Hold on there, you'll be okay," he tried to soothe.

She glared at him, "YOU THINK THIS IS OKAY!"

So the giving birth part had been stressful. But when he held his newborn son in his arms his eyes had watered because it was amazing, and he was a father.

"He's beautiful," she had whispered, taking the baby from him.

Percy had just nodded, because she was right.

-END FLASHBACK-

 _I don't want a lot for Christmas_

He sighed softly, still remembering the birth of his son. His son was three now and deserved to see his mom for Christmas too. Unfortunately, this year it just couldn't happen.

 _This is all I'm asking for_

He took a long sip and closed his eyes. He could hope. He could wish. He smirked slightly at the thought of Santa, delivering presents and giving Annabeth a ride home.

 _I just want to see my baby_

He imagined her face, her bright smile that lit up the room. Her sparkling eyes, like the lights on the tree. She wasn't just beautiful, she was a goddess.

 _Standing right outside my door_

The clock struck midnight and Percy slowly fell asleep on the couch to the light of the tree and a full plate of cookies.

-.-.-.-

The first thing Percy sub-consciously noticed was the warmth.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a plate full of crumbs and an empty glass of milk.

The first thing his mind registered was confusion.

The first thing he actually noticed was the lock of blonde hair and a human cuddled up beside him.

That woke him up pretty quick.

No way could this be real, no way could this actually be happening. He slowly moved so that he could fully wrap his arms around his girlfriend.

"Annabeth?" he whispered in wonder, brushing aside a strand of her hair to reveal her face.

She seemed to wake at the movement and he watched as she slowly opened her eyes.

"Percy." She spoke softly, and that was all he needed to pull her into a slow kiss.

"God I missed you."

"I missed you too."

-.-.-.-

"Daddy! Where are you? Did Santa come?" he heard their son yell across the house.

"In the living room! Why don't you come see for yourself?" Percy yelled back.

The high pitched screech of "MOMMY!" was the best reaction he would ever get.

After all the gifts had been opened and they had a moment to themselves, Percy reached towards the back of the tree to pull put one last gift in the form of a black box.

"Percy, I've got a gift for you," he heard Annabeth say.

"You being here is a gift enough," he replied.

She smiled warmly back. "How about me being back for good?"

His mouth dropped open. "No way!"

She laughed as he pulled her into a hug. "Yes way."

He pulled her in for a kiss, god he would never get tired of doing that.

"Well good," he replied. "Cause you have a lot of work ahead of you."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

He held out the black box. "Well I assume you're going to want to plan the wedding."

He opened it to reveal the ring. "If you say yes, of course," he amended.

"Percy-I-of course! Yes!"

And when their son marched back into the living room, new toy stereo in hand, he smiled at the song choice.

 _All I want for Christmas, is you_

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? Did you like it? No life messages in this one really, just a fluffy Christmas oneshot for the winter season based around one of my favorite Christmas songs. Also wanted to give Annabeth a different kind of career option but honestly shoutout to anyone in the military because that's a tough job and we appreciate you! But yeah, I don't celebrate Christmas but I do enjoy the festivities so hope even those of you who don't celebrate liked the fic!**

 **And here's wishing all of you a happy holiday season and a very happy new year!**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one!**

 **And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See you in 2019! :)**


	23. Reaching Out

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with the first update of 2019! I'll talk more in the end notes (also yes I am Forever-Fangirl-PJO-HP, I just removed the HP part), so for now, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

As a child, he'd been told dolls are for girls. Well it didn't stop him, or he wouldn't be one of the pillars of the fashion world right now. And currently the successful designer was holding said dolls in question staring at the wild idea of an outfit his six-year-old self had concluded was "cute."

Actually, the flower print wasn't too bad…he made a mental note and continued his cleaning of his mother's attic.

Percy Jackson's name might be plastered everywhere, clothes, purses, and more recently colognes and perfumes but he was to this day a devoted son, and when the words Percy Jackson came from his mother's mouth he was there.

The attic did need a good cleaning, and his mom, while unable to do the heavy lifting of boxes, would participate by bringing him blue cookies which was honestly all the help he needed.

He packed up the dolls, and the copious amounts of clothes for the dolls, and set them in a fresh box. He stared for a moment longer in contemplation whether they would be kept out of nostalgia or donated so some other girl or boy could realize their dream.

His contemplation was cut short however from a flash of bright orange in his peripheral. The sun had started streaming in through the small, glazed window and had struck a photograph that was being held down by an old camera.

He moved towards it and picked it up.

A giant wooden sign read "Camp Half-Blood" and a group of kids all wearing bright orange shirts stood underneath it. He spotted his messy dark hair immediately and smiled at the toothy grin his eleven-year old self was giving.

His eyes wandered from himself to the person standing next to him and his heart almost stopped. Curly blonde hair and a confident smile. Annabeth.

He picked up another photograph from the small pile he had discovered and the next one featured a closer up version of the two of them. Arms around each other with happy smiles and still wearing the bright orange t-shirts.

He could see her eyes better now, the stormy grey that had captivated young him, he wondered if they were still like that.

Annabeth Chase had been his best friend at that summer camp and, if he was being honest, kind of a crush too. She was one of the first people to really welcome him in (she had been going to the camp for much longer) and she was the reason he came back every year till he was fifteen.

He never really forgot about her. She would crop up in his thoughts every now and then, but seeing the old photographs, well that was a nostalgia trip.

God, he missed her. They would do the most strategized dumbest shit (strategized because of her and dumb because of him) ever in camp and he was pretty sure the camp director was both exasperated and impressed with the things they accomplished.

They even kept in touch out of camp for a bit, sending emails, before somehow it all just stopped. It was probably just school and life getting in the way but he really wished he'd been better about it, tried harder.

"Percy! How are you doing up there?" his mother's voice broke him out of his thoughts, and he moved to look down at her.

"Good, it's going good," he called back.

She smiled at him. "Great, the cookies are almost done too by the way."

He shot her an excited grin, the one that took her back to when he was a boy, and she laughed.

Moving back into the attic space, he picked up the dolls again and decided to keep his inspirations.

-.-.-.-.-

"Most of it is my stuff," he admitted to his mother over cookies later on. He had gotten through a significant amount of stuff and was taking a break.

"I know, it's why I asked you to go through it," she replied.

He nodded, stuffing his face, thoughts back to the photographs in his pocket. His mother must have noticed the faraway look because she asked.

"What are you thinking about Percy?"

Still chewing the blue-y, chocolate-y goodness, he pulled out the photographs and set them on the table.

"Ah." Was all she said.

"What?" he asked, noting her twinkling eyes and warm smile.

"Annabeth, you really liked her didn't you?"

He blushed even though that had been years ago and ate another cookie.

"Take a moment to breathe Percy," his mother chided, before continuing, "and no use hiding, I always knew you liked her. I don't blame you, she was a very smart and charming girl."

"I wonder what she's up to now, or she even remembers me," he finally said.

His mother shrugged. "I'm sure she remembers you, you don't tend to forget best friends even if you lose contact. And you could always find out."

He gave her a surprised look.

"You could? Especially with all the Facebook and Instagram and whatever else people are using nowadays, I'm sure you could find her."

She had a point, he could try. He could always try.

-.-.-.-.-

Percy Jackson was in his office looking very focused and surely he was about to design something new, or so the secretary whispered round.

In actuality he had his unisex line open on a tab and the others were perusing through Facebook and Instagram trying to find a one Annabeth Chase.

And somehow even social media was failing him because no matter what he typed or where he searched, he couldn't find her. Facebook was a dead end and he had at least ten different possible Annabeth's on Instagram, five of who were private profiles and didn't have a profile picture of the person.

He leaned back with a sigh. She would be the kind to have everything on private. He was never going to find her like this. Even when they were talking they used to send emails and-

Wait.

He quickly moved back towards the screen and started typing. Damn, what was that password. After a few minutes of attempting and a password reset he was in.

The old email account stared back at him with dozens of email chains from mostly just Annabeth. He started reading through a few.

 _This idea is so dumb. Buuttt, if we were to pull it off we would have to sneak in round back when she would be at archery and we would need to bring the shaving cream with us beforehand and make sure to dump it in the Stolls cabin's garbage._

He smiled as he remembered the particular prank played on a rather mean member of one of the other cabins who had tried to shove his face in a toilet his first day and was only saved by Annabeth Chase herself.

Most of the other emails started off like that, stating how dumb the idea was but then proposing a viable plan to execute it. She honestly had been his biggest supporter.

The other ones were pretty normal, talking about school and life.

 _Yeah my math teacher is horrible. He doesn't know what he's talking about and every time I correct him he glares at me. How are things with you? Hopefully you don't have any horrible teachers._

Annabeth always had an affinity for math, and the one teacher, if he remembered correctly, was actually horrible and she wrote about him often.

The last email they had sent was sent from him spaced months apart and read:

 _He seems great, hope you have fun_

Oh yeah. Now he remembered. Annabeth had gotten a boyfriend, something that had upset Percy. She used to rave about him and slowly his annoyance and jealousy made him drift further away till they stopped talking.

God, he had been so stupid.

He took a deep breath, well what was done was done. Now all he had was this, this old email that he doubted she ever checked anymore.

It was a long shot, and for some reason he felt nervous, but he was going to try. He was hopeful. Maybe even stupidly so. But hey, it was the start of a new year, and why not try?

He opened a new draft:

 _Hey Annabeth,_

 _I don't know if you remember me but-_

-.-.-.-.-

A few weeks later he was in a rather boring business meeting with some investors or financers or something of the sort that he wasn't in the mood to see or really understood quite frankly when a notification popped up on his laptop.

Reply from: WiseGirl731

He choked on air at the sight and started coughing. Everyone turned to look at him.

"I'm sorry," he managed through coughs, "I just" cough "need a second" cough. And with that he shut his laptop and walked out of the meeting room.

In the safety of the bathroom he pulled out his phone to read the email.

 _Hey Percy,_

 _Of course I remember you! We were partners in crime at camp. I'm surprised to hear from you after all these years, it's been forever. How are things going? How's your mother? I can't believe you remembered this email, I'm still signed in on my old laptop so I don't check it that often so sorry for the delay in response. Hope to hear from you soon._

 _Annabeth_

His heart was racing as he read through. She had replied! She had remembered him! He was actually speaking to Annabeth Chase! He hadn't felt this excited since is Blue Cookies line.

Willing his heart to calm down he quickly wrote out a reply, answering her questions and asking for her number for easier communication.

And oh right, he was in a meeting.

Fuck.

He hurried out, making excuses for the coughing and not hearing a single word of the meeting, thoughts solely on Annabeth.

-.-.-.-.-

He was always told to be careful of who he gave his personal number to but Annabeth Chase was an exception to every rule and soon they were texting and very easily falling back into the routine teasing.

 _How could I forget you when your name is in every store I walk into? :P_

He made a face and he could imagine the mirth in her voice.

 _Shut up, idk, maybe you forgot I existed_

The reply came right away:

 _Nah can't forget the guy who almost got his face shoved into a toilet on the first day_

 _We don't talk about that!_

But soon they had gone through the nostalgia and Percy's heart was racing again as he held out hope for something that might also be stupid.

 _Hey, I was wondering, since we have a lot to catch up on, would you like to meet up sometime?_

The reply didn't come till may hours later during which he was totally sane and calm and didn't drink two cups of coffee.

 _Yeah, I'd love to! Sorry for the late reply I was in a meeting_

The sigh of relief could be felt throughout the building.

-.-.-.-.-

The relief didn't last long because he was meeting Annabeth today and what was he going to wear! The fashion designer suddenly had no clothing and an empty closet, probably because the closet had been emptied out onto the floor with each discarded item.

He could wear his own clothes but maybe that's pretentious? But he doesn't want to look like a slob to go meet her either in case she feels like he doesn't care. But they're only meeting at a coffee shop.

He sighed in frustration and then panicked because he had wasted an hour and he was supposed to see her in fifteen minutes.

In a new wave of panic, he chose dark blue jeans and a black and white shirt from his unisex line and rushed out without bothering to fix his hair.

Twenty minutes later found him hurrying into a coffee shop and losing his breath at the sight of long gorgeous curly blonde hair, pink smile and familiar stormy grey eyes that certainly still held the power to captivate him.

He stumbled over a chair on his walk to her and she smiled.

"Still a seaweed brain I see," she teased as he somehow managed to sit down.

"I..uh.." he couldn't really speak properly because holy fuck he was seeing Annabeth Chase and she was still as charming as ever.

The crush he had fostered long ago came sweeping back with force.

She gave him a weird look and he finally found his words.

"Sorry, I just, it's so great to see you again."

She gave a warm smile at the words. "It's good to see you too." Then she took in his slightly rumpled appearance.

"And good to see you haven't changed, don't know what I expected from a famous fashion designer." There was a teasing tilt in her voice, and it was exactly how he had imagined it.

"You haven't changed either, just gotten more beautiful."

She seemed surprised at the statement and a blush overtook her cheeks. He decided he wanted to see that blush more often.

"Oh, shut up," she mumbled taking a sip of her coffee.

"It's true, I've always thought so. You were always so smart and confident, the brains of our crazy plans. It added to your beauty."

He's not sure what's compelled him to say all this out loud and he feels like he's walking a line here but he's holding out hope. He's been holding out hope this entire time.

"I'm sorry," he continued, "I don't mean to sound…pushy. I'm just finally saying how I felt…feel."

He paused and she looked at him to continue.

"I never forgot you, you know, and I've always wondered if I'd ever get to see you again and how you'd be. And I may be absolutely dumb for hoping since you probably have someone else in your life or maybe just don't feel the same way, but I'd love to spend more time with you…and…" he trailed off without finishing the statement.

He couldn't bring himself to look at her right away and there was a moment of silence before she spoke.

There was a blush on her cheeks, and she spoke slowly. "The plans were usually your idea you know, you were always the creative one. I never forgot you either, and when your fashion line took off, I couldn't escape you if I wanted. I wondered if you'd changed. But your Blue Cookies line came out and I wondered, maybe he's still the same seaweed brain. The one that was pretty cute…and has gotten quite handsome."

She winked. "I've always thought so."

Of all the things that Percy had hoped for (despite the low chances) when he reached out to an old friend, he never thought that a few weeks later would find him in his mother's kitchen with blue cookies, old photographs, a box of dolls and Annabeth Chase by his side.

(Maybe the one in a million chances were in his favor because not long after she was Annabeth Jackson.)

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? I thought it would be nice to start the year off with some hope, some reaching out and a nice little re-meet oneshot! I think the idea of taking a chance or reaching out to someone is something we all think about but rarely execute. But you never know what can come of it so maybe it's worth trying out!**

 **I actually wrote something else based off hope in my other series Semantics of Love (that I update every Tuesday) for those of you interested as well!**

 **As for this fic, I will continue my monthly updates! I have also, if you noticed changed my username, just slightly, and am thinking of changing it to Forever Fangirl Writes entirely, any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated!**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one! It's a little bit of a callback to my earlier work I think, except with a re-meeting.**

 **And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


	24. Life Is Like A Box of Chocolates

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back early this month with a timely fluffy fic, hope you like it!**

* * *

Valentine's day as an institution is a purely commercialized product of rampant American consumption and as far as Annabeth was concerned this was the best thing for chocolate lovers, which is what found her at a Target on Feb 15 grabbing the last few bags of discounted Valentine's day candy.

It was ridiculously cheap thanks once again to consumerism and the bored looking employee with headphones was already starting to stock the Saint Patrick's Day stuff which meant Valentine's day had to go.

Annabeth was only too happy to help. She wasn't the only one either, she was pretty sure that there was a guy an aisle over doing the same thing.

And just as she finished the thought he appeared at the other end. The guy, she had now dubbed "cute guy" (after taking in the tactfully messy hair and strong jawline) was perusing through the various chocolates. She followed his line of sight and came across...okay unpopular opinion but she actually liked white chocolate and started to casually inch towards what seemed to be the last box of it left.

Cute Guy didn't seem to notice her attempt and when she was only a foot away, reached for the box. She froze and watched as he looked over it in contemplation hoping he would be like most people and decide against white chocolate.

After a bated moment he put it in his cart

"Damn it!"

"What?"

Oh shit did she say that out loud? She looked up to see a slightly confused look on, newly dubbed: chocolate stealer's face. He was still cute though, annoyingly enough.

"What? Nothing," she said in response.

He rose an eyebrow at the bad bluff attempt.

"Pretty sure you said something," he pressed. His hair was so dark. And soft looking.

"Who me? No, I didn't," she waved it off.

"I thought I heard you say damn it."

At the words her glance wavered from his face over to the box of white chocolate in his cart. An amused smile had spread on his face by the time her eyes snapped back.

"Ah, I see," he said, still wearing that stupid smile.

Stubborn as ever she replied, "What?" And she most definitely did not pout. She was an adult. Adults don't pout.

He picked up the box of white chocolates from his cart.

"Did you want these?"

"I never said that," she said haughtily.

He smiled and god damnit he was so cute. He had green eyes, like actual green. She didn't even know that existed.

"Normally I'd play the finders keepers card, but I think I can make an exception for a cute girl." He winked and held out the box.

She just stared at him. Now don't get her wrong, she's not against Valentine's day, good on ya if you got a significant other, but the irony of being hit on the day after made her want to laugh.

And a small giggle escaped her at the thought and it was Cute Guy's turn to stare as she burst out into laughter.

"I'm sorry," she said in between laughs, "It's just so funny that I'm in the Valentine's day clearance section the day after and a cute guy just hit on me over a box of discount chocolates."

"Well when you say it like that..." and with that he also started laughing and they just stood there in the freaking target laughing. She was pretty sure the employee was looking at them over a giant shamrock decoration.

The chuckles finally died down and her words seemed to hit him.

"Wait, cute guy?"

She gave a small smile in response.

"Does that mean I can get a name?" He asked, smiling back.

"Annabeth."

"Percy."

"Nice to meet you Annabeth. If I give you the chocolates, can I also get a number?"

He grinned hopefully and her heart sped up at the sight.

"I thought you were going to give them to me anyway," she said instead, making a face.

He leaned against his cart. "That was before you called me cute."

She threw up her hands in mock exasperation. "You give an inch and he takes a mile."

He shrugged with a twinkling look in his eyes. "Hey, you can't just let go of an opportunity like this without trying. I'd have kick myself later otherwise."

He handed her the box with a smile. "But I'm not going to push you, here."

He moved to push his cart away with a wave.

There was a beat of silence before,

"Hey Percy?"

She would have kicked herself too.

-.-.-.-

It took him about the obligatory amount of time before he finally texted her. It read:

 _Hey Annabeth, it's Percy, chocolate guy from Target_

She rose an eyebrow at the wording and couldn't help the smile that made its way on her face. She was genuinely glad he had decided to text her.

She typed put her response:

 _Chocolate guy huh? What does that even mean?_

The reply was instant:

 _It means I know a great place to get hot chocolate if you're interested?_

Damn, that was smooth. He must have planned that out.

 _How long did it take you to come up with that?_

His response came a second later.

 _You're avoiding the question_

She smiled at the easy banter they had fallen into.

 _So are you_

And after a moment she added:

 _Yeah, I'd love to_

He never tells her how long it took him to come up with the line and they set a time for the next day to meet up.

-.-.-.-

It's a cold sunny day, which always arises conflicting emotions in Annabeth. She's glad that it's sunny, but the cold almost offsets it. But at least if it's going to be cold, the sun can provide some sort of condolence.

These are her thoughts as she somewhat nervously awaits Percy's arrival. They were meeting by the Starbucks on the corner of the little downtown area and were going to walk to this mysterious special place with "the best hot chocolate in the world".

She's early, as usual, so she stands by the little patio area and contemplates the complexities of the weather some more until a hand on her shoulder makes her jump.

"Hey, sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

And there he is with his jaw, and eyes, and hair tucked behind a beanie. He's as cute as she remembers.

"Hey, you're good, I was just thinking."

"Oh really, what about?" he asks and then gestures with his arm to start walking.

She follows his lead. "The weather."

Surprisingly he nods. "It's so conflicting."

Of all the things she thought he'd say this is not on the list. "Right! Like what do you…" and the conversation just takes off from there.

They walk for what feels like five but is probably closer to fifteen minutes before they reach a small bakery tucked between two stores in a way that you might have missed it.

He holds open the door and they walk in to an onslaught of heavenly smells. It's a cute little bakery in a quaint sort of way and she's still taking everything in when he appears back her side with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate.

There's a mountain of whipped cream (which Annabeth completely approves of) so it's not until she takes a sip that she realizes its made of white chocolate.

He's looking at her face to watch her reaction.

"Well?"

She doesn't respond and takes another sip. It's the best thing she's ever tasted. She decides to forgo responding in favor of another sip.

He seems to take it as a good sign and smiles.

"I'm glad you like it."

The words finally make it out.

"It's amazing!"

He gives her a look, eyes full of sincerity.

"So are you."

She swears it was the warmth of the drink that made her blush.

-.-.-.-

They say Valentine's day is a hoax, a holiday invented by card companies to make money. And so what if that's the case? It's an industry (like any other) and therefore driven by consumerism. It's hated and loved and modified to accommodate different kinds of love.

It's cheesy and romantic and it's funny and meme-ed and a million different other things.

But if you have to live in society dictated by consumption, there are worst ways than a day celebrating love.

The discounted chocolates the day after aren't that bad either.

For many Feb. 15 is the day to celebrate, at least that's what Annabeth tells herself as she quickly loots the clearance aisle in a Target once more before rejoining her husband in line.

(They share the white chocolate this time.)

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you guys think? I just wanted to do a cute fluffy one with month (with a hint of Valentine's day commentary because sometimes we don't need to bash on everything, like heart shaped chocolates, cheesy cards and love (even if it is made by card companies)). It's a back to basics fic with just a lot of fluff which I thought was apt for Valentine's day anyway :)**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! Did you like it, even if it was a bit simpler?**

 **And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


	25. Drunk Adventures

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back just in time with March's update, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

He didn't want to go out on a night like this but Oreos need milk and what was he supposed to do with a thing of Oreos and no milk? So despite the cold and slightly windy weather, he trudged out (still wearing his Star Wars pajamas because it was 7/11 and they've seen worse at 10pm on Tuesday night at a college campus).

If anyone asked it was midterms. Which, to be fair, he had been studying for before running into this Oreo crisis and who knew when Jason would return from his study group and he needed the Oreos now.

The pajama pants did not hold up well against the random bursts of wind and he hurried his pace. And maybe it was the regretting his life decisions and hic cold legs that distracted him from noticing the other person in front of him.

Luckily, he stopped just before he ran into them, almost falling forward at his abrupt stop. Unluckily, this caused enough noise that the other person turned to look around. And perhaps even more unluckily, the other person recognized him.

"Percy?"

He held back a wince at the sound of his name. He was cold, needed milk for his Oreos and was not in a place to hold a conversation.

He slowly turned to look at the other person and well wouldn't you know it, it was none other than Annabeth Chase.

"Annabeth, hey," he said weakly.

"I thought I recogcognized you," she replied.

He was immediately taken back by her tone. "How? Also are you drunk?"

She waved aside his words. "Not drunk, jusst tipssy."

"On a Tuesday?" As soon as the words left his mouth, his mind flashed back to all the times he'd been randomly drunk on a weeknight.

Annabeth seemed to be thinking in the same vein because she just gave him a look.

He held up his hands, "Okay, okay, fair. How did you recognize me?"

Because honestly with his hood up and head down, he was shocked that a drunk Annabeth spotted him.

"Of course I did, always recognize that cutee buttt," she giggled.

Woah. That was a turn he was not expecting. Color rushed to his face and he started stammering.

"Right, you are drunk, can you get home alright? I can call you an Uber?"

"I'm not drunk!" she insisted, swaying a little at small stomp she had done to emphasize her point.

"Right, sorry, tipsy. Well regardless, you need help getting home?" He was choosing to ignore what she had said earlier and focus on making sure she was okay because if he started to think about the fact that Annabeth Chase had just called his butt cute then he'd be in a worse state than her.

She furrowed her brow in thought. "I…I can do it, home is this way," she pointed down a dead end street that led to the baseball field. "I mean…this way…" she pointed again the opposite direction she had been walking.

Oh boy, she was in a rough state.

"How did you end up here?" The question left his lips before he could really think about it.

"I was drinking," she replied unhelpfully. "At the bar."

Well there were like three bars down this street so that made sense.

"Did you come with anyone?" he asked, pulling her aside because this was a conversation they shouldn't be having in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Hey," she grumbled as she stumbled at the movement. That's when he realized what she was wearing. And oh fuck did she look good. With a black pencil skirt with a navy blouse and matching heels, she looked heavenly.

He tried to push that thought aside and focus on the situation at hand.

"Were you…on a date?" Another question he hadn't really meant to ask but slipped out anyway.

She crossed her arms, looking mad. "So what if I was! You can't tell me what to do Percy Jackson! No matter how cute your face is!"

Okay wow, he had upgraded from cute butt to cute face. He tried to keep all signs of a freak out internal. Suddenly the wind on his pajamas was not a bad thing.

"I'm not telling you what to do, just trying to get answers. We need to get you home. Do you remember your address?"

She stared at him for a long enough time that he thought she didn't know the answer but right before he opened his mouth to say something, she started to recite it.

"Okay great, we're going to Uber you there now."

He moved to get his phone out of his pocket when her hand stopped him.

"But Perrccyyy," she whined, "I don't want to go home yet. I wanna do something!"

Her hand was holding his arm and she was looking up at him with such a cute pout that he automatically answered, "like what?"

A big smile overtook her face. "I don't know! Anything!" Then as if a thought had just occurred to her, she pulled his arm down the direction of the dead end street that led to the baseball field.

"Annabeth? Where are we going? There is nothing over there." But he let himself be pulled along.

"What do you mean, of course there is!"

He realized her plan a little too late but suddenly they were by the fence that separated the field from the sidewalk.

"Oh no, we can't," he began.

"Oh yes we can," she replied, cutting him off. And with surprising agility for being drunk she took of her heels, threw them on the other side and proceeded to climb and hop the fence.

"God damnit," he muttered as he quickly followed suit.

"See that wasn't so bad," she grinned and started to pull him along as soon as he was on the other side.

It was shocking to see this spontaneous, drunk Annabeth.

To be fair, he didn't really know that much about her aside from the fact they shared a history gen-ed together. They had talked a few times for random group work and he had always found her smart (and cute) but that was the extent of their interactions.

He looked at the way she was smiling as she pulled him across the field they had just broken into at like 10:30 on a Tuesday night and felt his heart melt a little more for this person he had always admired from afar.

He also took the moment to let himself process her earlier words, about how she found him cute. That was perhaps the most shocking thing, he never once thought that she thought that way of him.

So lost in his thoughts he didn't notice when she abruptly stopped and almost ran into her. Again.

"We're here," she stated with certainty.

"Where is here?" But even as he asked the question he quickly saw that here was in the middle of the baseball field slightly off from the pitcher's mound.

"The center, silly, we're at the center." She gestured to the empty bleachers in front of them.

"I see…" he said, not sure where to go from there. They stood there for another moment, in silence, her arm still wrapped around his, before she finally spoke.

"I used to play softball you know."

He turned to her in surprise. "Really?"

She nodded, staring at the empty bleachers. "Yeah, all throughout high school, I was in varsity."

"Wow." And that's all he could say really. A million questions circled his mind, what did you think of it? Did you like it? Why did you stop? But none came out and they stood in silence.

He followed her gaze when his mouth didn't form the words and looked upon the rows of empty bleachers, all circled around this point. So much attention was drawn to this place on the field.

He wondered what position she had played. If she had felt the weight of the people watching.

"I'm used to this view," she said suddenly, breaking up the silence again. And with that she began pulling him once more.

"Where-" he cut himself off and just let himself be pulled, he'd find out soon enough anyway.

A couple minutes later found them sitting on the bleachers.

"I haven't seen this view in a long time." She said, capping off her words from earlier. And the view was different, a watcher instead of a player.

He wondered which one she prefered.

She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. He once again tried not to freak out at the contact. The bleachers were cold against his thin pajama pants but he was still heating up.

His mind urged him to ask the questions, it was the only way he would ever get answers. But at the same time his mouth couldn't form the words.

He looked down at where she was leaning against him, she was sharing a part of her with him, she was opening up about herself and all he wanted was to know more.

"I did karate in high school," he said instead, feeling the need to share something about himself in return.

She sat up to look at him. "Really? How was that like? What belt did you get to?"

He smiled. "It was good, a lot of work, I got a black belt."

"No way, that's so cool!"

It wasn't that big of a deal to him, he mostly just shrugged it off. But the way she was smiling at him made him feel like maybe it was a little cool after all.

"Well you playing varsity softball is cool too," he replied.

She shrugged and looked back onto the field. "It was alright, I mean it was fun, I had a good team, but ya know…"

He was about to say that he did not know when a loud noise made them both jump. The doors leading to the bleachers had opened and someone had entered, walking around with a flashlight.

"Oh shit! It's patrol, we need to get out of here!" Percy hissed, ducking down.

Annabeth nodded and started to crawl to the stairs. "Come on," she whispered.

And slowly the two of them made their way down the stairs and hopped over the border onto the field.

"I think I saw something," one of the patrol people yelled.

The two held their breath and pushed themselves up against the border by where the umpire would be waited as the flashlight shined around.

Percy looked at Annabeth, adrenaline rushing through him and she grinned back, holding up five fingers.

"What-" Percy began to whisper when she put a finger down.

Oh no. Another finger down and she grabbed his arm again.

Two and they readied themselves to run.

One and she sent one last look over her shoulder, that almost knocked the breath out of him.

Zero and they were off, running towards the fence once more.

They heard yelling when they were a two thirds of the way there but by the time they had climbed and hopped the fence the patrol were too far out to do anything. They ran laughing down the street.

They must have looked crazy, hand in hand, out of breath, laughing wildly, and Annabeth with her heels in hand, but that was the most fun Percy had had in a very long time.

"Oh. My God." He said in between breaths as he tried to regain control of his breathing.

Annabeth was grinning wildly. "That was awesome!"

He had to agree with her there. "That was…the most fun I've had in awhile," he admitted.

She squealed. "I knew you'd enjoy it!" She was beaming but he could see the tiredness beginning to sweep over her as the adrenaline died down. Seeing her like this, seeing her tonight, it felt like he was actually meeting her for the first time.

A soft smile grew on his face. "I did, but I think it's time to get you home."

She frowned, "but adventure…"

"That was quite an adventure," he soothed. "And we'll go on another one tomorrow, how about that?"

She looked up with shining eyes, "Yeah?"

His heart melted again. God his little class crush was being blown way out of proportion.

"Yeah."

And with that he called an Uber and took her home. She may have pulled him closer in the car, and she may have fallen asleep on his shoulder and he may have carried her to her door where a relieved Thalia helped him bring her in. And he may have left the tiniest kiss on her forehead before he walked out.

Jason was back by the time Percy walked in, cold to the bone with a dreamy look and a small smile on his face.

"Where were you? You are literally shivering. And did you get milk?" Were the first things out of Jason's mouth when he entered.

Milk? Oh yeah…that what he was supposed to be getting. Well, that never happened. And maybe for the first time in ever, Percy decided that Oreos could wait.

-.-.-.-.-

The next day he walked into class with a slight cough and scarf. Annabeth walked in late sporting the same things along with a pair of sunglasses that she only removed once seated in the back of the lecture hall.

After class she found him before he had even finished packing up.

"Hey…" it was a quiet tone, a contrast to the night before.

"Hey." He offered a smile to break the awkwardness that he felt beginning to form.

"Listen…about last night…." She began, unsure of what to say.

"It was an amazing adventure and absolutely worth a few sniffles and coughs." He decided to speak before the inevitable, I'm sorry I was drunk apology came. And he was speaking the truth. He had truly enjoyed last night.

"Yeah?" she asked, looking at him hopefully.

"Yeah," he nodded, smiling.

"Thank you." The words held a lot, he knew that much. Thank you for breaking into a field with me, thank you for bringing me home, thank you for taking care of me. And he also knew she didn't have to thank him, that he would do it all over again.

"You can repay be by going on an adventure with me today."

She tilted her head in surprise. "What?"

He shrugged. "I promised you, remember?"

"Oh you don't have to, don't feel like you're obligated-" he cut her off.

"It'd be my pleasure, how about dinner?" He looked at her hopefully, hoping he had read the signs correctly. Hoping she would let him into his life. He had caught a glimpse of it last night and it had led to more questions than answers.

What was her favorite drink? Why had she stopped playing softball? Who she was supposed to see last night? He wanted to get to know her. Learn more about her. This shy quiet Annabeth was a stark contrast to spontaneous drunk Annabeth. She had so many layers and he wanted to uncover them all.

"So what do you say?"

A look of surprise followed closely by a blush appeared on her face. She looked down shyly. "Yeah…yeah that sounds nice."

"Great, I'll pick you up at six?" They were at a precipice, so much more to do, so much more to learn.

"Yeah, see you then." The smile from last night was back on her face and he felt his heart beat faster. She gave a small wave and started to walk out.

"Oh and Annabeth," he called, and she turned to look at him, "you've got a cute face too."

The blush that colored her face made missing out on Oreos worth it.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? I think this one is a mix of a bunch of different themes, a spontaneous adventure, a drunk night, learning things you never knew about someone, or seeing someone you know in a new light, Oreos, and stupid college shit.**

 **I guess it all kind of boils down to a different kind of meeting. A kind of meeting when you see, understand and learn thing about someone in a completely different way, when you really meet and get to know someone beyond a short interaction at school or work or anywhere else.**

 **And so I decided to write this spontaneous adventure of a fic (that I had no idea was going to end up like this) for March. And if anyone follows my other series Semantics of Love, you'd have seen that my five year anniversary on this site has just passed, and I want to thank you all for supporting me and reading and reviewing for so much time. Thank you guys so much!**

 **I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one so please review! And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


	26. A Rose By Any Other Name

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back! Just in time for April's update! I need to be better about not updating on the last minute :P But anyway, here is a little something longer, and different, hope you like it!**

* * *

More and more people were refusing to obey the law of the land. It was troubling to the kingdom where peace had reined for so long. The laws had always been just and fair and the citizens had always abided by them.

"We must figure out what caused this," the queen spoke to her council. There were murmurs of agreement, but before she could hear the plan, the young princess was yanked back by one of her ladies.

She knew it was Piper immediately, because no one would dare to touch her in that way, and she quickly made a face.

But before she could open her mouth to complain, Piper had yanked her down the hall.

"Ow, what in the-"Annabeth started to say.

"Shh, he's coming," Piper hissed. Immediately they both straightened up as her tutor Luke walked turned the corner.

"M'lady," he said quietly, bowing his head ever so slightly as he walked past.

She bowed her head in return and gave Piper a look once he was out of sight.

Piper for her part smiled smugly, "You're welcome."

Annabeth frowned, "but I was about to hear their plans for the upset in town."

Piper rolled her eyes. "I'm sure they'll announce it soon. Your mom is pretty quick with coming up with a plan. It's where you get it from. Besides," she shrugged, "you wouldn't want Sir Luke to see you eavesdropping."

"Ugh, Sir Luke is too upright for his own good," she replied as they continued to walk towards the gardens.

"Sir Luke is quite good on the eyes too." Piper smirked.

Annabeth groaned. "I know, that is also a problem."

"You know-"Piper started.

"Oh no you don't, don't say it," Annabeth warned.

"You know you are of age to get married," Piper continued as if Annabeth hadn't said anything.

Annabeth sighed and plopped down on a garden bench. "I don't want to talk about it."

Piper sighed. "You never want to talk about it."

And with that she stood up. "I do have to run m'lady, I'm sorting out some special clothes for you." And with a wink she sprinted away before Annabeth could say anything leaving her sitting there with more questions than answers.

-.-.-.-.-

As it turns out the answers came a few days later. Annabeth was in the middle of being fitted for clothes, aka, trying things on and making faces at Piper, when her mother walked in.

The two immediately straightened up and quieted down.

"Hello mother."

Annabeth had an interesting relationship with her mother, the queen was as intimidating to her as others in the castle and there was always an air of polite respect even though it was her mother.

"Hello dear," she replied, sitting down on her daughter's bed.

Annabeth quickly exchanged a look with Piper. What was going on?

"Perhaps I should leave your highness," Piper spoke uncertainly.

The queen turned and shook her head and sighed. "You might as well stay Piper; I know Annabeth will tell you everything anyway."

She smiled at the shocked faces of the two young women in front of her.

"I know we aren't that close Annabeth, but I do know who your best friend is."

Annabeth's mind was reeling. Her mother was rarely this way with her, something must be up.

"What's happened?" she demanded.

The queen sighed again, suddenly looking worn out, as if the tolls of ruling a kingdom where finally showing.

"I'm sure you've heard about the riots and problems going on in town."

She nodded, recalling the meeting she had been eavesdropping in before being pulled away.

"Well," the queen continued, "they are related to the neighboring kingdom, and we have been talking to the rulers to figure out a way to keep the peace."

That made sense, but why did she feel like there was bad news coming her way.

"I know you won't like this Annabeth, but they have a young prince around your age and… well, it would benefit both the kingdoms and keep the peace among people."

"You're suggesting an alliance?"

"A marriage," her mother responded, "would be the best form of an alliance."

And there it was, the bad news, the reason for the pit in her stomach.

There was a moment of silence as everyone processed the words before the queen once again spoke.

"Annabeth?"

With a shaky voice she responded, "I need some time mother." And with that she turned and walked out of her room, with Piper running after her.

-.-.-.-.-

The other royals were arriving the next day. Annabeth had spent most of the night awake, unable to sleep as thoughts churned in her mind. Conflicts and fears and worries all meshing together, driving her wild.

She had not yet talked to her mother, or even Piper, as she had retired to bed early only to have gotten very little sleep.

"You look exhausted," Piper said the next morning when she came in to help her get dressed.

"Couldn't sleep."

Piper nodded sympathetically. "How do you feel about it?"

The question she had been trying to answer all night. She chose her words carefully.

"I'm not sure. On one hand, it's unfair, on the other it's my duty to this kingdom to act in its best interest."

Piper turned to her with a smile. "You'll make an amazing queen someday."

-.-.-.-.-

The arrival of guests meant the castle was bustling with activity, cleaning, cooking, arrangements, even Annabeth had things to do.

By sunset the preparations were made, and the messengers had arrived to inform them the king and queen were on their way.

Despite holding it together till then, the arrival of the messengers was a bit jarring, like it was suddenly all too real.

The garden was perhaps her favorite place in the whole castle, her escape from the world. And it was here she ran when it became too much as they waited. As she waited…to meet her future husband.

The thought made her shiver.

"A bit of a chilly evening," a voice broke her out of her thoughts, "for spring that is."

She turned to look at the unfamiliar face, one of the messengers from the other kingdom. He quickly bowed. "Your highness."

She nodded absently. "I suppose it is."

"Forgive me for saying so, but your highness seems lost in thought."

She turned to the uniformed messenger, wearing green and gold garb that were the other kingdom's colors. A hat adorned his head, almost too big for him. He looked a bit awkward.

She sighed. "I guess I am. After all," she laughed dryly, "I'm going to be meeting my future husband for the first time."

The messenger nodded. "That would put a lot on anyone's mind. Are you ready?"

She turned to give him an odd look. She'd never met a person who asked her this many questions before, with the exception of Piper.

"M'lady," he quickly scrambled to say.

She waved aside the formalities. "I don't know, as ready as anyone can ever be, I guess."

"How do you feel about it?"

There it was again, the question she had been trying to answer all this time. She turned to look at the messenger, he was looking back at her with a slight title to his head. His eyes seemed to want to genuinely know the answer, like he cared.

"It is my duty to do what's best for the kingdom," she replied, the answer she had prepared in advance.

"But how do _you_ feel about it?" he pressed. There was that sincere tone is his voice again. It struck her enough to make her think about her answer.

"I…" her voice faltered, "I guess I'm scared, nervous at how it's all going to be, if I'll like him, if he'll like me…"

She laughed dryly, again. "I don't know why I'm telling you all of this."

He shrugged. "I asked."

He made a valid point. They stood in silence for a moment before he spoke, carefully and softly.

"I think, your highness, that's very normal and I imagine that he is also feeling the same way."

"Perhaps," then as if an idea struck her, she turned to him, "what's he like? Your master. You can tell me; I promise not to tell anyone."

Then as quick as she said it, she changed her mind. "Actually, maybe you shouldn't tell me, I should judge for myself after all, not go off of preconceptions."

She sighed, conflicted.

The messenger was silent for a while as he contemplated an answer to the non-question.

"I suppose the only thing I will say is…he tries his best, and I hope you like him."

Annabeth turned to him, the sun was starting to set, painting the sky in brilliant shades of pink and orange.

"It's gorgeous isn't it?" he said, changing the topic of conversation.

She nodded. "Breathtaking."

"Not the only one," he muttered under his breath.

"What?" she asked, not sure if she heard him correctly. There was no way he would say something like that.

"Nothing," he replied and when he turned to look at her, she was again stricken at the softness of his eyes. It made her shiver again.

"You must be cold, your majesty, here, take my coat." And with that he pulled it off and offered it to her. She was shocked at this gesture; this messenger was an odd one alright.

She shook her head. "I'm alright, I don't want you to be cold."

"I won't be" he insisted and offered her the coat once more.

Hesitantly, she accepted the offer. The coat was warm and smelled like the sea, it felt comforting.

She turned back to the messenger, who now looked odd in his too big hat and plain white shirt underneath. A shirt that fit snugly, she might add.

She quickly tore her eyes away from his arms and blushed, hoping the low light would hide it. She could not be thinking that way about some other man. She was to be married to someone else.

The thought reminded her of the situation, and she sighed again.

"What wrong?"

She shook her head. "I accept my duty…"

"But?" he prompted.

"You're quite the curious cat," she said instead, raising an eyebrow.

"Forgive me if it's not my place," he said quickly, "you just…looked like you might need someone to talk to."

The words felt nice to hear. Other than Piper she really didn't have anyone she could talk to like this, anyone she could confide in like this.

"I appreciate it the company," she finally responded.

"It should be I who is thanking you, your highness, for allowing a simple messenger to be in your company," he responded humbly.

She frowned at the words. "That's not true. You have provided better company than some nobles I've met, it's not about your status, it's about your character. And," she paused to look at him, "You have a good character."

She wasn't sure but it looked like her words had brought a blush to his face. He quickly turned away and looked down.

"You are too kind," he mumbled.

"Just being honest," she replied with a smile. The fact that she had made him blush made her feel good, she wanted to see that again. Wanted to have that effect again.

They sat in silence for a bit longer until the horns blew, signaling the royals had arrived. The messenger quickly jumped up at the sound.

"I'm sorry, I must go," he said, turning to face her as he started to walk away.

"Wait!" she called after him, "your coat!"

But he had already rushed off and she was left with confusion, a smile, and a warm coat that smelled like the sea.

-.-.-.-.-

Dinner had gone as well as she could have hoped given the prince was "unable to attend due to travel sickness." She was fuming at the blatant display of avoidance. She was to be his wife and he couldn't bother to show up to dinner.

She hadn't even seen him.

As soon as it was possible, she quickly excused herself and ran to her room calling for Piper along the way.

Piper was even more enraged than she was, and it reminded her why Piper was the most supportive best friend anyone could ask for.

"How dare he! The coward. Travel Sickness? Please!" Piper paced back and forth in anger.

"He could actually not be feeling well you know," Annabeth pointed out, more willing to look at a reasonable side now that Piper was angry for her.

"Maybe…" Piper looked skeptical.

Annabeth sank back into her bed, her hands finding the coat of the messenger that she had hastily thrown into her room on the way to the hall.

She should have just left it or handed it to someone to give back but for some reason she wanted to keep it. Even though the poor messenger was probably getting in trouble for not being in uniform.

"What's that?" Piper asked, completely distracted from the matter at hand.

"It's one of the messenger's coats, he gave it to me because he thought I was cold," she replied, smiling a little at the memory.

"When was this?" Piper demanded.

"Around the time they arrived, I was out in the garden and we talked, he had to leave when the King arrived and forgot it in his rush."

"And you kept it?" There was a smile in Piper's voice that made her look up.

"I didn't know what else to do at the time," she defended. That was a complete lie. And the look on Piper's face said that she didn't buy it either.

But she left it at that with a soft, "Okay."

-.-.-.-.-

Annabeth called out of breakfast because if the prince could do it so could she and instead escaped to the garden again. The good thing of having a royal garden was that it was big enough to have a good number of hiding places.

Yet somehow her quiet morning was interrupted by a rustle of leaves and a man coming around the corner.

The familiar too big hat paired with a fresh coat was actually a pleasant sight for her to see.

"M'lady," he bowed upon seeing her.

"Hello again," she replied, her mood brightened simply by his presence.

"I didn't think I'd run into you here," he replied, seeming like he very much so expected to find her here.

She raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

He blushed, something she could finally see in proper daylight, and it made her smile widen.

"How did you sleep?" he asked instead, clearly avoiding the question.

"I slept well, thank you, what about you?" In all reality she had slept with the smell of the sea still in her mind from earlier.

"I slept fine as well, you have a very comfortable castle here," he replied.

She beamed at the praise. "Thank you."

She was proud of her castle, her kingdom, her people.

"You have a very lovely garden too," he added, looking around.

"It's my favorite place," she replied, turning to take in the scene.

"I can tell." There was a smile in his tone and when she turned to look at him, she was blown away by the prettiest sea-green eyes she had ever seen. The low-light of yesterday had done no justice to the spectacular shade of emerald and sky that made up his eyes.

And the sincerity and care, were all still there, he looked at her with a softness. She felt her heart beat quicken.

She tore her eyes away from his, trying to calm down her heart. What was that? He had made her feel…

Shaking the thought from her head, she floundered for a topic of conversation.

"You left your coat behind yesterday," she said awkwardly.

He made a face. "I'm sorry about that, I was in too much of a rush."

"I don't have it on me to give it back to you…" she went on just as awkwardly.

He smiled. "That's okay, you can keep it."

She wasn't sure what the implications were behind that, or if there were any to begin with, but the words made her blush, maybe because she had kept it.

"But won't you get in trouble?"

He shrugged, "I don't think the prince will mind."

The thought of the prince made her frown. The man she was supposed to be marrying, who she had yet to meet still, who was maybe avoiding her and who she…she was also kind of avoiding at this point.

The messenger seemed to sense the mood shift.

"He really wanted to be there," he said finally.

She turned to him angrily. "Then he should have been!"

"You're mad?"

She threw up her hands. "Of course, it all seemed like a ploy to avoid me."

"What are you doing right now?"

The question made her more mad, because he was right. She was also avoiding her future husband and how dare he call her out on it.

The messenger quickly put up his hands in defense. "I don't blame you."

"It's okay," he added in a softer tone.

She sighed and looked at him once again. Tan face, strong jawline, and beautiful green eyes, he looked regal in his own right. The too big hat covered his hair completely and his arms were once again hidden by his coat but despite all that he looked good.

And he looked at her like she was good.

She physically shook her head to rid herself of the thought. She could not be thinking this way about this messenger, she could not fall for someone else, not when she was betrothed to another.

"I should go," she said quickly, standing up.

He quickly stood up beside her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you, please don't leave."

There was a pleading to his voice and when she turned to look at him his eyes were the same way, warm and pleading and she could feel his apology.

"You didn't, it's okay."

He held firm. "But I did, and I'm sorry, it was out of line. It won't happen again, just please don't leave."

And his puppy dog look made her melt right back to her seat and she swore her stomach had butterflies at his radiant smile when she stayed.

-.-.-.-.-

For someone who was supposed to meet her future husband, she was doing an excellent job at avoiding him. It also helped that he seemed to be avoiding her too.

She had spent most of the day before hiding in the garden talking with the messenger and running from those trying to find her.

According to everyone but Piper, her highness had a severe headache that required rest.

But it was officially the third night and the avoiding couldn't go on for much longer, she would have to meet him at dinner.

She made her usual escape to the garden and secretly hoped with all her heart that she would find the messenger there.

As she sat on a bench, she recalled the night before.

She had successfully "retired" to her room only to escape a few minutes later out the window and into the garden once again. She had been hoping that night that she would once again see the messenger.

She had been wandering through the dim light, when she had once again run into him.

"Why hello your majesty, we must stop meeting like this," he had joked, grin wide.

"That would be a shame," she had replied, because honestly seeing him had become the highlight of her day.

From their conversations throughout the time they had spent together she had gleaned more of his personality. Funny and charming, he loved the sea and adored his horse Blackjack. On top of that he was sweet, caring and he looked at her in a way that made her heart flutter.

She was quickly falling for him. And as much as she knew she shouldn't, as much as she knew she should pull away, she couldn't help but fall back into his orbit.

He seemed to be on the same page, becoming a bit more daring with his compliments.

They had been talking about some roses near where they were when she had made a comment about how beautiful they were, when he had turned it on her.

"Kind of like you, your highness, blooming brilliantly to add color and beauty to the world."

She had burned red at the words. And there was no denying the butterflies in her stomach now or the flutter of her heart.

"You shouldn't say things like that," she had said later.

"Like what?"

"Like what you said earlier, it isn't right…it…I…" she had struggled with the words. How could she say that she was starting to fall for him but couldn't because she was to get married to someone else. How could she even begin to admit that?

He had sobered at the moment and looked at her cautiously. "You…" he had trailed off.

"I have my duty; I will stay loyal to it."

It hurt to say, but it was true, she had too. Even if it meant sacrificing her own happiness.

"You'll make a great queen someday," he had replied quietly. It had reminded her of Piper's words that now seemed so long ago.

"I should go," he said finally, sighing softly.

She didn't want him to go, she wanted him, them to stay in this little moment forever, to exist in a little bubble of time where everything was okay.

"Will I see you again?" she had called as he left.

He had turned to her to respond. "You'll see me tomorrow, I promise."

But it was tomorrow, and here she was waiting in the garden for him to show. But as the sun set and darkness overtook the sky it became clear he was not going to come.

Disheartened she stood up and made her way to the hall. It was probably a good thing he had not come. They needed to end this anyway. But it still stung, her heart yearned for his company.

But as she approached the grand hall she squared up and pushed the thought aside. She was a princess; she had her duty to the kingdom, and she would do it. She got ready to face her prince.

The grand ball was sparkling with light and bustling with people. The other royal family sat on the other side of the room. The King with dark hair and smiling face and the kind queen beside him. She had met them already; they had liked her, and she had liked them.

But for the first time there was another figure by them, a man looking down with messy black hair covering his face.

Her prince.

Her mother joined her side as the other family got up and walked towards her, the prince shuffling along, still looking down.

She bit back a frustrated sigh as they got closer. How could he possibly still be avoiding her? They were about to be face to face.

"Annabeth, my dear, it's so nice to finally introduce you to my son, Percy," the king said with a smile.

And with that all eyes turned on the messy black head of hair that was still hiding his face.

Slowly, the prince got down on one knee. He pulled a ring from his pocket and finally, for the first time, looked up at her.

The first thing she saw was a strong tan jawbone and a small smile. He brushed his hair from his face and his eyes came to view.

Familiar sea-green eyes filled with so many emotions she wasn't sure how to interpret the waves. He gave her a hesitant smile, as if he was ready for her to be angry with him (and honestly, she kind of was) but then he held out the ring and simply said,

"Marry me?"

It was like her whole world was flipped on its head and the first thing was hurt at the lie with how he had presented himself, how could he do that.

As if reading her thoughts, he winced, looking at her with big apologetic eyes. It was like he had lifted a curtain and she could see the anxiety and uncertainty and insecurities and confusion that she had been feeling all this time.

She saw the conflict and pain and most of all fear for how she would react to him.

And she understood why he did it.

And just like that the anger melted out of her. He was only human, and like he had said, trying his best. And then came all the memories, of them talking and laughing, the way he made her feel, how happy she was in his company.

In the end she quietly whispered, "yes."

Princess Annabeth and Prince Percy were married in the garden by the rows of roses as the sun started to set in the background casting a glow upon the whole kingdom.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? 4k words later, we have this royal!AU with Percabeth! I really wanted to write the idea of an arranged marriage and thought doing a royal AU would be a fun way to implement that, plus I've never done anything like this before. I just wanted to try out something different with this one, so I really hope you guys liked it!**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one!**

 **And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


	27. Hooken On You

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back with my monthly update, once again just in time (one of these days I'll learn :P) Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

He had an hour to get home, if he didn't make it he would miss the season finale of Supernatural and that was just not something he was prepared to do.

The bus was running late, or maybe early and he had missed it? Buses were confusing like that, you never knew if they were running late or if you were.

A clacking of heels drew his attention as another person rushed to the stop, only slowing down when she saw that he was also there waiting and the bus wasn't in sight.

He watched her check her watch and couldn't help the chuckle that came out of his mouth. She looked up sharply at the sound.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to come out," he said, in way of an apology and explanation crammed into one.

She gave him a curious look and for some reason he felt compelled to keep talking.

"It's just I had the same reaction, couldn't tell if I was late or the bus."

She smiled at the words.

"Yeah, buses can be confusing like that."

"Exactly! That's what I was thinking."

She nodded in agreement and he took a moment to get a better look at his companion. A white blouse and black pants, black heels, and blonde hair pulled into a bun. Classy, she had clearly just left work.

"Are you waiting on the 60 or 76?" he asked as a way to keep the conversation going. And also to cover up the fact that he had been looking her over.

"60," she replied, "you?"

"Same." He checked his watch and huffed impatiently. The hour was counting down and it would take at least thirty minutes to make it home.

She didn't say anything but when he looked over she had an eyebrow raised.

His cheeks burned at the look. "I'm kinda in a hurry," he explained.

She gave him an amused smile. "Yes, I can tell."

Seeing that she wasn't judging him, simply curious, he let out a small, slightly embarrassed smile.

"The season finale for Supernatural is in an hour…"

She chuckled at the words and he felt his face light up again.

"I completely understand, that's how I felt with the Game of Thrones season finale."

"Oh yeah, I heard people weren't happy with it."

She turned to him. "You don't watch it?"

He shrugged. "Never got around to it.

She nodded. "Fair, I mean I've never watched Supernatural."

"You're missing out."

"I could say the same for you."

He made a face. She had a point.

"Just watch the first episode, give it a try," he coaxed.

She laughed. "And here I was worried you'd try to sell me drugs. Nope, just a tv-show."

"Hey, that show is like a drug, you'll be hooked before you know it," he replied seriously.

"Alright fine, least I can do for strange man waiting for a bus is watch the first episode of Supernatural." She rolled her eyes at the end but the smile was still on her face.

He smiled back. "Well if I'm you're tv-show drug guy, I should have a name. Something like…Perseus."

"Perseus? Really, that's what you come up with?" She looked surprised and impressed at the same time.

He shrugged. "Close enough to my actual name, Percy."

"Percy? That's a cool name."

He gave a theatrical bow. "Why thank you, don't wear it out."

She rolled her eyes again but he could see beyond the exasperated front she found it fun.

"Well Percy, I'll be sure not too."

He opened his mouth to say something more but just then the bus showed up and conversation ceased as they got separated in the crowd. He got off before her and tried to meet her eyes as a goodbye but was pulled along with the tide of people before he could.

He got home just as the episode started.

-.-.-.-.-.-

The girl with the blonde hair and smirk remained in his mind in the following days, and maybe that's what compelled him on a Sunday night to watch the first episode of Game of Thrones.

The likelihood of seeing her again was low but on the off chance he did, he could at least say he'd watched it.

Plus it was a very popular and well liked show, so it wasn't like he was doing it only for her.

-.-.-.-.-.-

The following day found him walking to the bus stop once again. As he approached, he spotted a familiar head of blonde hair pulled into a tight bun and a pair of stormy grey eyes. Wow, how had he not noticed the eyes the last time.

She was wearing a light blue blouse this time and a black pencil skirt. He did not fail to notice how good this looked on her.

"Hey!" he called out. And then quickly realized that just because he remembered her did not mean that she remembered him.

Luckily, she seemed to recognize him.

"Ah it's my tv-show drug dealer, Perseus," she joked.

He grinned back. "You got to keep it on the down-low, don't you know how drug deals work."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said before dropping her voice down to a whisper, "better?"

"Much," he whispered back. Then after an expectant pause, he continued, "well?"

"Well what?"

"What did you think about it?"

She looked at him in confusion and he sighed.

"The first episode of Supernatural," he said normally, dropping the whisper.

"Oh…" she looked at him guiltily.

"You didn't watch it," he replied, affronted.

"I'm sorry! Work got really busy and I just forgot." She gave him an apologetic look. "I really am sorry."

He held up a hand and dramatically looked away. "It's fine. I mean I watched the first episode of Game of Thrones for you, but it's fine."

"You did?"

He turned to see her excited face and nodded. She was cute when she was excited.

"What did you think?"

"Better than I expected," he said, giving an appreciative nod. Because honestly the show had surprised him.

Then realizing he was supposed to be hurt he quickly frowned. "But you couldn't even watch Supernatural."

"Okay, okay, stop being dramatic, I promise to watch it tonight," she placated.

"Really?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes."

"I'm holding you to that…" he stopped not knowing her name.

"I suppose as your tv-show junkie I should have a name and since I'm not creative enough to think of one, I'll just give you my real one. Annabeth."

"Annabeth, that's very pretty. Kinda like you." He ended the sentence with a wink and boarded the newly arrived bus.

-.-.-.-.-.-

He wasn't sure if or when he'd see Annabeth or even is she'd watch the show but honestly it wasn't about watching the show (though he really did love it) it was about the fact that this random girl at the bus stop had played along with his antics and had a beautiful laugh he wanted to hear all the time.

But he really shouldn't care that much. Annabeth was a pipe dream.

But, his mind oh so helpfully supplied as he sat back to watch the second episode of Game of Thrones, it'd be nice to have some company.

He told his brain to fuck off.

-.-.-.-.-.-

He didn't see her again till Friday when he ran into her again at the bus stop. She had headphones in and was looking down at her phone when he approached. She jumped when he laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," he said, backing up.

She took a deep breath. "It's okay, I wasn't paying attention."

"I see that, what are you doing?"

With a sheepish smile she turned her phone towards him where it was paused on a closeup of Dean's face in one of the later episodes of Season 1.

He grinned wide at the sight and looked at her in excitement. She had actually watched it, and from the looks of it she was hooked enough to watch it while waiting for the bus.

"You were right, I'm addicted."

"This is why you should never do drugs kids," he joked. "What episode are you on?"

"19, Providence."

"With Sarah!" He recognized the episode.

"Yeah, I like her."

"So do I," he agreed. "And I knew you'd love Supernatural."

She rolled her eyes, a common trend when she was with him it seemed. "Yeah, yeah, you were right, not need to gloat."

He just gave her a wide grin and she, like a mature adult, stuck her tongue out at him.

"You offering?" he joked and was secretly pleased when a blush overtook her face.

He must not have been that early because the bus was approaching, ready to cut the conversation short once again.

In a moment of impulse, he grabbed a pen from his bag and a post it note and scrambled to write his number. He barely had time to give to her as they boarded the bus.

"Tell me what you think of the finale!" he shouted before the crowd overtook them.

Later that evening as he scrolled through emails half heartedly his phone lit up.

 _I CAN'T BELIVE THEY ENDED IT LIKE THAT_

 _ARE THEY DEAD_

 _WHAT ABOUT THE CAR!_

He laughed at the texts. Saving the number under Annabeth he quickly typed out his response.

 _Keep watching to find out_

There was no response after that and he only saw the messages when he woke up the next morning time stamped for 1am:

 _I hate you for making me watch this_

He just smiled and replied back

 _You love it_

The absence of a reply said enough and so did the emoji that came several hours later.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Percy was totally not panicking. And it was most definitely not because after two weeks of texting and sporadic meetings at the bus stop Annabeth was coming over for the first time.

She had reached the season 3 finale and Percy had offered, after two hours of debating, to provide moral support by means of company and snack at his place.

He was even more shocked that she had agreed.

And as a result, he had most certainly not panicked and bought like one of everything because he wasn't sure what kind of chips she liked. And he had most certainly not also bought four different kinds of drinks.

As he was busy fretting over the chips the doorbell rang and brought him back to reality. God he was like a middle schooler with a crush. Checking his appearance one last time in the mirror he moved to open the door and god damn. He had only ever seen Annabeth in business clothing with her hair in a bun. Seeing her now, t-shirt and jeans, curly blonde hair flowing freely was truly a sigh to behold.

He felt like the wind had been knocked out of him.

"Hey," she said smiling a bit awkwardly.

"Hey," he replied. Then realized he hadn't invited her in, he moved to the side. "Come in."

She did so, taking in his place as he took in her appearance. He was so not prepared for this.

"I wasn't sure what you liked so I got some options," he said, still nervous, as he led her to the table where five different chips were laid out.

"Oh my god Percy, you didn't have to, I'd take whatever."

He shrugged in response and sat down beside her.

She took a Cheeto from the bowl and popped in her mouth. She really was his kind of girl.

"So, ready to watch? I'm dying to know what happens, they won't actually kill him right?"

The awkwardness dissipated as they watched the episode, both falling into the show and easy banter with each other.

Needless to say, three empty chip bowls and a half season later they were cuddled up against each other falling asleep.

-.-.-.-.-.-

It was dusk as he approached the corner of the intersection. Hat on, collar pulled up, he shuffled beside the woman who was also there.

"Hey, I got something different for you this time, gonna cost a little more," he said in a low voice. Reaching into his coat pocked he pulled out a white slip of paper and pressed it into the woman's hand.

As he looked in either direction, she unfolded the paper to stare at its contents.

"White Collar?"

"Shhh, keep it down. And yeah, it's different, but I think you'll like it."

The woman just smiled, rolling her eyes slightly. "Okay."

She moved to put the paper in her pocket.

"Hey, what about my payment!" he demanded.

Sighing the woman smiled again and walked up to him putting her arms around his neck.

"How much?"

"Two."

And with that she leaned up and met his lips halfway. They had just finished the second kiss as the bus rolled up.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? This one is just a fluffy oneshot for the sake of a fluffy oneshot, sometimes you just need one of those in your life ya know?**

 **Any Supernatural fans? (or Game of Thrones but I have never watched that show) Or any White Collar fans? (that's pretty obscure)**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts! And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


	28. The One She Did

**A/N: Hey guys! Buckle down, grab a snack, this one's a long one :P Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

An itching feeling, like something wanted to claw out, break free. An internal suffocation, in the back of her mind through everything she did: pour coffee, drive to work, sit in a meeting, drinks with her friends, dinner with her boyfriend.

Day and night, this feeling, persisting, like a weight.

Unsatisfied.

The word came to her in the middle of lunch. She looks down at the sandwich that's suddenly dry in her mouth.

Why?

She has everything, a decent job, good friends, a nice boyfriend. She's doing alright for herself; things should be looking up.

But she's twenty-six and…unsatisfied.

But why?

She doesn't know. But it hits her that she's not really that happy. But she's not not happy either.

So what is she?

Late to her meeting, really. The sandwich is scarfed down and heels click to the meeting room and her mind ponders on the word.

Maybe she's just crazy, she thinks on her drive home. She has worked hard to build up the life she has now. She's struggled, been lost, confused, unsure. She'd worked through it all to get to where she is, to find stability.

But now that she has it, she's unsatisfied.

She must be insane.

Thalia and Piper are arguing over a striped shirt and she's startled enough to wonder how she got here. Clearly at some point she parked her car, walked over, and met them by the entrance. She remembers it now, but it feels far off.

She really is insane.

Or just really out of it today.

"Earth to Annabeth." Thalia waves her hand in front of her face.

"Yeah, I'm here, sorry."

Piper gives her a concerned look. "You sure? You've been spacing a lot today."

She sighs. How does she explain this feeling? This tension building slowly inside of her, that's actually speeding up now that she's acknowledged it.

Unconsciously she starts to drum her fingers against her thigh.

"Nothing, sorry, just an off day I guess."

"Well," Thalia checks her phone, "it is getting late, if you need to leave to meet Luke then you should."

Oh right. She was meeting Luke for dinner today. She'd forgotten.

She isn't hungry.

Picking at her salad, she stares past the blonde head of hair in front of her to a couple in the back that was clearly trying (and failing) to keep it together.

What was so funny, she isn't sure, but they are giggling like children despite being full grown adults.

"Annabeth?" Luke's clear voice interrupts her observations.

"Yeah, sorry." She transfers her attention to her boyfriend. Strong jaw, neat blonde hair, only a faint trace of a scar near his eye that only aid his good looks. His blue eyes are trained on her.

She looks at her food to avoid meeting them.

"Do you not like the food?" he asks.

"No, it's very good, I guess I'm not that hungry." She makes an effort to eat a forkful.

"Did you have a big lunch? Didn't you have that lunch meeting today?"

She shakes her head mechanically. "No, that's tomorrow."

He's so… together. Luke, like her, had worked his way up to stability. It's how they had met, interns at a company for a time. Their like-mindedness had led to a relationship that continued even after he left for another job.

He always looks good, neat and put together.

But once again, her eyes drift from her boyfriend's handsome face to the giggly couple in the back, who have managed to compose themselves but still sport wide grins on their faces as they converse.

Luke has been talking, and she only manages to catch the end of the story.

"So he went up to John and complained about the 'woman in the back,' who was the VP of the company."

"Serves him right," she responds. She doesn't know the whole story, but it seems like a safe bet that the guy is an asshole.

Luke nods in agreement, "Yeah, he was really embarrassed about it afterward."

"I bet."

She must be really out of it because when he kisses her goodnight she doesn't invite him in, just tugs her clothes off and climbs into her bed, hoping tomorrow would be better.

-.-.-.-

Tomorrow was not better. The feeling stayed and she went about her day much the same as before.

The next day was the same and she was getting so fed up she canceled all her plans. No drinks with coworkers, no seeing Luke, no seeing anybody.

She comes straight home, changes into an old pair of jeans and a comfy t-shirt and sits on her couch in hopes of relaxing.

But she is restless. No TV show, no movie, nothing manages to distract her, her foot is tapping incessantly without her consent and it's starting to annoy her now.

She stands up, feet continuing to move till she's pacing back and forth.

In the past three days this feeling has blown beyond anything she could have thought and it's starting to take over. It's turning into frustration and she wants to stomp her foot and throw a real tantrum.

Instead she grabs her wallet and keys and heads out the door.

Her phone starts vibrating as she gets in her car and she sees a message from Piper asking her what she's up to.

She puts it on silent, throws it in the backseat and begins driving.

-.-.-.-.-

It's hard to get lost when you know an area well, but she decides to follow the road as far as it would take her.

Luckily summer is starting to warm up the air, allowing her to leave the windows down. She's got a 90s radio station on and she's finally hitting unknown territory.

It's the best she's felt all week.

She hit a highway of sorts a half hour back and she's far enough away from the city and suburbs to start hitting open fields. The sun is starting to set and it's painting the sky a beautiful mixture of pinks and orange.

It's honestly breathtaking and so vivid she feels as though if she reached out she could touch it. She settles for driving faster towards the sun as though she could catch up to it.

It's like chasing something you know you won't attain, which is pretty similar to chasing something you don't know exists.

That's what she's doing after all, chasing something without knowing what. The thought startles her into a sense of reality as the sky grows darker.

Where is she? She doesn't know anymore, the sky is a deep blue, and the air is getting colder. Suddenly, everything is not so great.

She rolls up the windows and turns down the radio a bit and really starts to realize her situation. The clock on her dashboard reads 9:30 so she's been driving for a good three and a half hours already. She has no idea where she is, other than surrounded by open fields on a freeway. And she's getting hungry.

It's the most unnerved and uncomfortable she's felt in a while.

And yet strangely enough, she feels a part of her grow excited. And the more she thinks about it, the more the feeling grows, tugging at her until a small smile has made its way to her lips.

And there she is driving 75 miles per hour in god knows where to god knows where with a growing smile and she wants to laugh.

She really must be insane.

She turns up the music, which at some point had started playing throwbacks and sings Don't Stop Believin' at the top of her lungs.

-.-.-.-.-

An hour and half later she's in desperate need of gas and food.

She takes the first exit and pulls up to a small gas station with a convenience store. It's eleven at night and she's all alone and she has to admit it's a bit scary pulling up to a place like this by herself. But it's brightly lit and there's a few other establishments across and down the road, including a McDonalds that she's going to make her next stop.

Another car pulls in and a teenager gets out so she's feeling a whole lot better about the place by the time she's filled up her car.

It also hits her then that she desperately needs to pee, so the next stop ends up being the convenience store that's attached.

She enters tentatively, looking around the brightly lit store. No one else is in, except a lone worker who has his back to her as he's stocking the shelves with chips.

Chips sound great right about then.

She's not sure where the restrooms are so she's attempting to scan the back wall when he turns around to see her.

"Oh, shit," he's clearly startled, and she sees why as he pulls put headphones.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there," he says, and she's hit with brilliant sea green eyes. His black hair is a complete mess, only swept to the side out of habit probably. He's wearing well-worn dark jeans and a black polo looking shirt with the gas station logo on it that is only half tucked in.

He offers a crooked smile and she finds herself smiling back.

"No problem, I was wondering if you could point me to the bathroom."

He nodded. "Sure, in the back to the left."

"Thanks," she replies.

Finally forced to see herself in the mirror as she's washing her hands, she realizes that she kind of looks like a mess. Her hair has slipped from her ponytail and become a little windswept from the windows being down.

She tries her best to freshen herself up as her thoughts wander to the lone employee of the convenience store.

He has to be around her age, and seems friendly enough, maybe he'd be able to explain where she was.

She walks out of the bathroom feeling better than when she walked in. He's finished stocking the shelves and has moved behind the counter.

Percy, is what his nametag reads once she's close enough to the counter.

"Hi again," he says cheerfully.

"Hey, I was hoping you could help me out with something."

"Yeah, go for it, I can help you out, probably, I mean it is my job, unless of course it's something really weird then maybe not, but I'll definitely try."

He's rambling a little and is not cohesive at all, she must seem surprised, because he immediately blushes and apologizes again.

"Sorry, I'm rambling, it's been a slow night, what can I do for you?"

He offers that crooked smile again and she can't help but smile back at him. He's kinda cute that way.

"Can you tell me where I am?"

He looks surprised. "Like, where you are right now….?" He trails off unsure.

"Like the city, what city is this?"

"Oh, well this is the edge of Lancaster."

Huh, Lancaster, she had never heard of it. It didn't help her orient herself in any way.

"Um…where are you trying to go?" he asks, clearly still confused by her question.

She shrugs. "No clue, I just kind of started driving, hence why I have no idea where I am."

"Wow, so you're really just lost."

Well that was one way of putting it.

"Yeah, guess so, but that may have been the point."

"Well, you seemed to have accomplished it."

As she nods in agreement her stomach decides to make itself known and growls at her for not feeding it.

Trying to fend off embarrassment (because why would she care what he thought of her anyway), she continues, "Damn, I'm hungry, what's good around here?"

He looks at the clock. "At this time of night, McDonalds is your best bet." He looks out the window longingly. "At least that's what I'm craving so maybe it's a projection."

"McDonalds sounds great, I'll head there."

He nods at her. "Alright, well, I don't know your plans but if you need any help, any suggestions or recommendations around here, let me know. I grew up here, so I know the area pretty well."

"Thanks, I'm good for now. I think I need food before I figure out my plans."

"Fair. Well, enjoy your food- eat a chicken nugget for me," he jokes.

And with a smile on her face, she waves goodbye and gets in her car to drive two minutes to the McDonalds.

Percy, what a nice guy. He certainly had a charm. Complete opposite of Luke. Luke would never have his hair that messy, or clothes that rumpled or even ramble like that.

She shakes her head. Why is she comparing Percy to Luke anyway? Why is she thinking about Luke? The thought brings back the reality of her life and she hates the thoughts. She has escaped for a while, she wants it to remain that way.

She doesn't want to face everything yet, rather just exist in the bubble this new and unknown place had created.

She finds herself ordering an extra thing of chicken nuggets.

Driving back to the gas station, she questions what on earth is wrong with her, that caused her to buy a random guy from the gas station convenience store chicken nuggets.

But she likes his company and wants to get to know him. What is his life like? What is it like to grow up here? Is he happy?

And with those thoughts, she walks into the store once again. Percy is sitting behind the counter with a book in hand and raises his eyebrows at her return.

"Hello, again," he says by way of greeting.

She smiles and holds up the extra chicken nuggets. "Here."

The look on his face is priceless. To be fair she is just as shocked at her actions as he is.

"No way, really?"

She nods and slides it across the counter. "In exchange for letting me eat here?" she asks.

He immediately nods and brings a chair from behind the counter to her side so she can sit.

She's gone all out with a burger and fries and she starts to practically inhale it as soon as it's unwrapped.

He watches her with an impressed look on his face.

"You must have been starving."

She manages to swallow before responding, "I haven't eaten in like 6 hours."

He pops a chicken nugget into his mouth. "Really? Damn, you must be real far out."

She shrugs.

He waits a minute before tentatively asking, "Trying to get away from something?"

She can tell he's worried he's overstepped and before he can apologize, she swallows her bite and addresses his question.

"No, not really. I think I'm trying to get _to_ something, though I'm not sure what…" she trails off because she's not really found a good way to explain it. But that may be because there isn't a good way to explain it.

He nods anyway and there's silence for a minute as he considers her words.

"I think I get it," is all he says but somehow, she believes him. Something in the way he says it, as if he can't find the words either, makes her think that perhaps he does.

"Yeah." There's silence again as they both eat.

"So, tell me about this place. You said you grew up here?" she asks upon finishing her burger, taking a sip of her drink afterwards.

"Well, there's not that much to tell. It's kind of a small town. We got a school and a library and a baseball field with a pretty decent minor league team. There's a few shops and stores and fast food places, but the nearest mall is about forty minutes out. There's a really nice park-slash-forest reserve though, with some good trails if you like nature. And…they have a drive-in movie in the field near the community center every Friday."

She nods as she digests the information. "It sounds really nice."

"Does it?" he asks absently, eating another nugget. "I'd think a lot of people would find it boring."

"Do you?"

He considers the question, eating another nugget in the meantime. "No," he finally decides.

"It's not super exciting, but it's nice, and familiar. The things we have aren't extravagant but there are many simple pleasures to enjoy."

"Yeah, I can see that… it seems to have a charm."

He shrugs. "But I'm probably biased."

"I'll take your word on it. I've never really been to a place like this." Annabeth chews on her straw absentmindedly. "I grew up in the suburbs close to the city."

"That sounds exciting."

It's her turn to shrug, "Maybe."

"Well, I know you don't know your plans, but if you're planning on staying, you should check out the drive-in movie tomorrow."

"That sounds nice, I- wait, tomorrow is Friday. Fuck!"

The thought reminds her once again of her life that she has momentarily left behind. She needs to call into work, and Luke has probably texted her. Fuck, where is her phone?

Remembering she left it in the back of her car she rushes out to dig through the back seat.

It's almost dead and she has a million notifications. Rushing back into the store she asks for a charger.

Percy, who seems to have gotten used to her weird behavior, hands her what is clearly his own charger.

"Thank you so much, I just realized I haven't checked in like seven hours."

"No problem, you got me chicken nuggets, I owe you."

She waves that aside. "No, you don't. Your company's enough."

She has four texts from Piper who got impatient, one from Thalia that simply read hey, two missed calls from Luke and three messages. There are a few emails from work and some notifications from other apps.

She makes her way through all of them, choosing not to respond to Thalia or Piper since they didn't sound urgent and probably assumed she was asleep. She'll explain later.

Her thumb hovers over a response to Luke, who had tried to reach out, come to the conclusion she was asleep, and wished her good night.

She should tell him.

But for some reason she doesn't want to. She doesn't want to talk to anyone, really. She just wants this, this thing to herself.

Percy, who has been quietly finishing his chicken nuggets, notices her hesitation.

"Is everything okay?"

She sighs. "I didn't really… tell anyone I was leaving, just kind of got into my car and started driving."

"And now people are wondering where you are?"

She nods.

"Well, what are your plans? Are you going to head back, or stay awhile?"

Maybe it's just her, but there seems to be a little wistfulness when he had said "stay a while."

Stay a while.

That sounds nice.

She decides then that she would stay the night at least. Typing out a quick email to her boss to let him know she was feeling sick and would be out, she lets out a sigh.

It feels better knowing she has some more time here.

"I guess I'm at least staying the night."

His face lights up, "Really? Then you should try and stay for the drive-in, it's a lot of fun! You get popcorn for cheap and my friend Grover runs it, so I could get free tickets."

His excitement is infectious. She feels herself looking forward to the idea. It would be such a nice change of pace, something new, it's what she needs.

"Yeah, that sounds like a lot of fun I guess I need to-" She breaks off as she stares at her phone.

Luke's text is still on screen. Fuck. What is she doing?

"What happened?" Percy asks, noticing the change in her mood.

"I need to respond to my boyfriend…I guess it's just hard to explain…"

She watches as he seems to dim at the word boyfriend and lean back a little as if to create space between them. Which is ridiculous, since they are already far apart, but she understands the gesture for what it is.

Surprisingly, instead of being happy at the sign, she is disappointed. She feels as though she's killed the mood and vibe that was going on. It suddenly feels like her escape was crumbling.

Forcing her phone away, she turns back to him.

"I'll think of something later, for now though, what were you reading?"

He holds up a Sherlock Holmes novel. "Have you ever read any of his stuff?"

She nods excitedly; it's rare to find someone who's actually read the books. "I have! Though honestly, I prefer Agatha Christie."

"Who?"

"Oh, you're missing out…"

-.-.-.-.-

The next day finds her waking up at two in the afternoon in her motel room after a long night of book discussions.

She hasn't stayed up all night or slept in late in a very long time. It feels good. It makes her feel twenty-two again.

After freshening up a little, and making plans to buy a new shirt at least, she turns her attention to the still-unaddressed texts and calls from Luke.

After a lot of thinking, she finally responds:

Sorry, I went out of town last minute.

I'll see you on Sunday and explain then.

Don't worry, I'm okay

The reply came twenty minutes later (he must have been waiting) with a normal note of concern and worry.

She reassures him again and then leaves to take on the remainder of the day. She doesn't want to spend any more time thinking or interacting with her life. She wants to enjoy this, now, this new place, this new feeling.

She gets in her car and starts to drive around until she comes across a thrift store. Well, that would do.

She walks into the quirky little shop and is met by a short girl, slightly younger than her with chocolate skin and hazel eyes. Her name tag, aptly reads, Hazel.

"Hi! Can I help you with anything?"

"Um…I'm not sure, just looking around for a shirt…" Annabeth trails off, taking in all the clothing around her.

"Alright, is there anything specific you're looking for?"

"Not really…unless you have a recommendation." She says the last part jokingly, but Hazel takes it seriously and steps out from behind the counter.

"Well, let's see here," and with that she gets to work.

An hour later, Annabeth steps out with a whole new outfit that she wouldn't have picked out on her own. She loves it.

She texts Percy about restaurant recommendations and the reply comes almost instantly.

Nico's is a cute little place that featured Nico, a guy who seems too young to own a business and is wearing a scowl on his face.

She has only met three people so far, two being exceptionally nice and one being a bored McDonald's worker, so Nico's sour disposition is a little surprising.

Percy meets her shortly, thereafter, completely ignores Nico's scowl and cheerfully orders them food.

"Don't mind him, he's just like that cause his boyfriend's away for the weekend."

"Shut up Percy!" is heard from the kitchens.

She smiles at the interaction. "Do you know everybody?"

"No, but these guys were in school with me, plus I'm a lifeguard part time and people around our age tend to populate the pool for the most part.

"I see you got a new outfit," he says appraisingly. She blushes under his gaze, even though it is not outwardly flirtatious in any way.

"Thanks, a girl named Hazel picked it out for me."

Percy nods, "Yeah, she's got real talent."

The food arrives, along with Percy's friend Grover, who walks in and immediately steals an onion ring off of Percy's plate.

Grover, Annabeth learns, is also a park ranger, and is more than willing to let her and Percy in for free at the drive in.

With more recommendations for trails to check out, the afternoon goes by quickly and before she knows it, it is time for the drive-in movie to begin.

Annabeth drives with Percy giving her directions. The drive-in is basically the parking lot and a lot of people have simply walked in with chairs. Nico is there, still scowling a bit along with Hazel (who happens to be his half-sister).

The stars are out, and the vibe was exactly how she's imagined it. Hanging out on the hood of her car with new friends, watching some old timey horror movie that made people laugh more than scream.

This is it, this is her little bubble of time, suspended in the night.

With Hazel smiling brightly and Nico trying not to smile and Percy with a wide crooked grin and stuffing his face with popcorn, she feels good.

She feels happy.

Not restless, or unsatisfied, but at peace.

"I'm glad you stayed for the movie," Percy says later, as she's driving him to his shift at the gas station.

"Me too, it was the most fun I've had in a while."

There's a silence as she drives.

"You're heading out then?" he asks finally.

"Yeah, I'm thinking of heading out soon, I'll probably reach by morning."

"You sure you won't fall asleep? Maybe you should leave in the morning."

The idea is tempting, but she knows she needs to leave now. The way she came was the way she needs to leave.

"I'll be okay, I promise."

She pulls up to the gas station.

"Do you need anything? It's on the house."

She shakes her head. She doesn't want to go. But she knows it's time.

Percy nods slowly and gets out of the car.

"Text me when you finally make it home Annabeth, I know it's a long drive."

She nods. It's hard to say anything.

At that moment the cacophony of emotions she's feeling is hard to explain or quantify. As ready as she is to go, watching him get out of the car makes something in her want to pull him back and drive some more just to talk about books or music or anything really.

He flashes her a small smile and something in her heart aches.

Slowly she pulls back out into the road. He's still standing there, in her rearview mirror, watching as she drives away into the night.

-.-.-.-.-

Annabeth is glad to be home. The first thing she does is take a shower and pass out. Her bed feels nice, her home feels nice. The familiarity is nice.

She wakes up at five in the afternoon, feeling rested for the first time in days. Her little trip was nice, but it's good to be back. The stability feels comforting once again.

She gathers herself and finally calls Luke.

He's over in twenty minutes.

It's weird to see him again after four days, after her little adventure. He looks as put together as ever, hair combed, clothes neat. He smiles when he sees her and it's not crooked.

"Where have you been, I missed you," his words are clear and concise, and the kiss is nice.

She explains she went on an impromptu trip, hung out in an old town, watched a movie. She mentions meeting some people, and that she feels better after her adventure.

She mentions Percy once when she lists off some people, but other than that she keeps the details to herself. Not only Percy but the store with Hazel, the diner with Nico and the hikes with Grover. She keeps all the details, guards them because they are _hers_. It's probably stupid to feel possessive over memories but for some reason she just wants to keep it to herself. For herself.

Luke doesn't push after getting the key points, says he's glad she feels better, and talks about his weekend. It's good to catch up.

It's good to see him.

But after he leaves, messy black hair and shining green eyes pop back in her head.

She's only texted him once, to let him know she got home, he had responded appropriately, and they had left it at that.

She decides to make plans to see Thalia and Piper to avoid thinking about him. Plus she misses her best friends.

They're both shocked upon hearing about her adventure. Piper presses for details, Annabeth gives as many as she can without giving them all.

It's good to see them too. She missed her friends.

They end up at the mall again because Piper wants to return something.

"The color is just not right," she insists, and Annabeth has a thought that her and Hazel would get along.

Thalia is rolling her eyes, even though she cares, and the attitude reminds her of Nico.

She's supposed to meet Luke later, too, but there's no parallel there. Percy is the exact opposite of Luke. Messy, rambley, not put together. But the passion he had when talking about books…she wonders if he took any of her recommendations.

"Earth to Annabeth," Thalia says, waving a hand in front of her face. It's a moment of déjà vu. But this time instead of looking off she's smiling into the distance.

"Damn, what happened? Did Luke do something?" Piper raises her eyebrows suggestively.

Annabeth blushes immediately. The implication is horrible, because she must have looked some kind of lovesick if Piper had said that about Luke, but she hadn't been thinking about him, she'd been thinking about Percy.

"No, it's nothing."

Piper giggles at her and they finally approach the counter. As Piper conducts her return, Annabeth's eyes once again wander around until it hits a dress of a brilliant sea green color.

It's a punch in the gut how similar it is to his eyes. She's immediately drawn to it. Walking over, she touches the soft silk and wonders if Percy's hair is this soft.

The thought brings another blush to her face. She needs to stop. Firstly, there is nothing between them. Percy had seemed interested but backed off when he learned she had a boyfriend and had acted only as a friend the entire time. Secondly, she has a boyfriend.

"Annabeth, what's going on?"

She turns to find Piper and Thalia standing behind her.

Leave it to the best friends to figure everything out.

-.-.-.-.-

Two weeks and some tough decisions later, finds Annabeth in her car driving.

She's spent them thinking, evaluating, deciding, and, hardest of them all, acting on those decisions. It's tough, and uncomfortable and a little scary. But she's here now. Moving forward.

She has a special place in her heart for both men; the one she should have loved and the one she did.

The bell rings and peeking out from behind the cover of an Agatha Christie novel are brilliant sea green eyes, and messy swept hair.

The slightly crooked smile that appears next warms her heart. It's beating a little faster now, a reminder of progress, growth, something new.

His shirt is only halfway tucked into his old jeans, and he's rambling about how great it is to see her.

The kiss is mind-blowing.

* * *

 **A/N: So what did you think? This one is 5k words, probably the longest I've written as a standalone chapter for this fic, but idk, I had a vibe in mind for this one and when I started writing, well, this happened.**

 **I don't really know what else to say that I haven't conveyed through the story itself, except for maybe that complacency doesn't lead to growth. I think we all need to challenge ourselves now and again, do something new or different, change in some capacity in order to continue to learn and grow. Being stagnant may lead to a feeling on unsatisfaction, or even unhappiness.**

 **Pushing out of your comfort zone is difficult, but I think necessary to progress to the next stage of you.**

 **Also I want to add that Luke is not a bad guy, nor is Annabeth a bad person for breaking up with him. Sometimes things happen, people change, or whatever else. You don't have to be a horrible person to be broken up with and you don't have to be a horrible person to break up with someone. I didn't include it in the fic but this is a hard decision for Annabeth to make, but ultimately she chooses something she believes will bring her happiness. Not that Luke didn't but she felt like she needed something else, and going after that is better for the both of them, otherwise it could grow into a bad situation where they feel stuck and suffocated.**

 **But yeah, this note has gone on long enough so I'll end it here.**

 **Please Review! I'd love to hear your thoughts! And as always, thanks for reading!**

 **See ya! :)**


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